A New Kind of Water

I'm Gabriel Lewis. Currently working in digital media at a company that does content, among other things. Obsessed with music you probably won't like, and some you very well might. It's a crapshoot, really. This is where I share. Because I like you.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Belle and Sebastian "If You're Feeling Sinister"

Classic. Totally changed the course of indie rock... quiet became the new loud, and everyone decided to write 'em like they used to. Sure, the twee thing existed for decades before this album in various forms and bands stretching from New Zealand to the UK, but this album was like an atomic bomb of post-Morrissey angst wrapped in a warm Nilsson-esque blanket. I got to see them perform in a small church in downtown NYC on tour for this album and they were awkward and shambolic and adorable. 

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Bedhead "What Fun Life Was"

Bedhead were a quiet band that left behind a quiet legacy of mellow indie rock songs. At the time, they were likely categorized as "slow-core" due to their tempos and general melancholia. 

I have a feeling slow-core is due for a resurgence. Mark it, folks.

Here's the most rockin' song on the album, for reference's sake:

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Battles "B EP"

At the time, the notion of members from Helmet and Don Cab forming a band was likely going to conjure images of a mathy, downtuned, groovy beast. The Battles "B EP" dispelled those presuppositions post-haste and got down to the avant-boogie weirdness the band would go on to polish - and add vocals to - over the course of more EPs and albums.

While Storm and Stress could have been a good heads up that things weren't going to be too rockin' on this debut, it was still a bit of a head scratcher at the time. Sure, the first track has some Don Cab elements in the build-up and polyrhythmic dissonance (yielding to an almost DnB beat courtesy of Stanier), but it's seemingly Braxton who pushes the band's direction, adding squiggles and electronic bleats that, at least on this EP, only foreshadowed the band's direction. 

Ultimately, my favorite Battles track is probably "Atlas" from the "Mirrored" album, but this EP was definitely an appetite whetter from a band of serious musicians whose only allegiance was to evolution.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Bastro "Sing the Troubled Beast"

Bastro was a post-Squirrel Bait Louisville band that featured David Grubbs (later of Gastr Del Sol and solo work) and, on this album, John McEntire (later of Tortoise and a million other projects) and was so ahead of their time and influential it cannot be painfully overstated. Or overstated painfully. What started as a bit of Big Black worship evolved into something way better.

If you love that '90s Chicago, Touch and Go sound, you will love Bastro (both Grubbs and McEntire relocated to Chicago, a development also not to be overstated in terms of musical influence and output for that city). 

It's incredibly hard to believe these sounds came out of a band in the late '80s. One of the best post-rock albums ever released, long before "post-rock" was even close to becoming an actual thing.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Bal-Sagoth "Atlantis Ascendant"

Oh, where to begin on this one. Well, for starters, Wikipedia:

"The album's primary story and lyrical concept... centres on the exploits of a fictional nineteenth century British archaeologist and adventurer named Professor Caleb Blackthorne III, who has dedicated his life to the field of antediluvian anthropology and to seeking out evidence as to the true nature of mankind's origin. As with many protagonists in the Lovecraftian fashion, his investigations lead to madness and death."

Or, the fact that the lyrical content of the album is presented by various characters in chapters, and features passages like this one (from the song, "The Splendor of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire, Part III"):

"Impertinent mortal wormcast! Do you truly aspire to prevail against me? I am the Bane of the Atlantean Kings, the Scourge of Lemuria, Arch-Foe of the Immortals of Ultima Thule! Long before man hurled himself squamously from the primordial ooze, I waged war with gods and thwarted eternity!"

Or that the band poses for pictures wielding swords, like so:

So, yeah - this is serious nerd-metal in the most glorious of fashions. Yes, it's all a bit over-the-top... but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be as remotely interesting. Dragonforce is like the wanky janky version of a band like Bal-Sagoth, who aren't afraid to go COMPLETELY BATSHIT COMMITTED to this sort of epic, medieval, dungeons and dragons, wizards and warriors, sword and sorcery, Tolkien-esque cheese-fest. The keyboard tone alone is enough to make you want to grab some crackers and start spreading.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Autechre "Tri Repetae"

One of my favorite electronic albums, Tri Repetae stands up to anything being released today (so says this old fogey). A couple of EPs repacked as an album for the US, Autechre may not have become quite as well-known here as contemporaries like Aphex Twin, but they carved out a sonically unique and slightly more challenging path. This album is probably one of their most accessible, and has their great mix of washed-out, glitchy electronics mixed with what could almost pass for organic, sometimes almost human, sounds. It's all rather apocalyptic, but in a good way.

Features "Second Bad Vibel" which got some play due to its music video being directed by Chris Cunningham.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Ativin "German Water"

Post-Slint instrumental post-rock that features great production, tight playing, and some inspired passages. 

I wonder how many bands like this existed in 1998-1999. I'm going to say 341.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: At the Gates "Slaughter of the Soul"

I'm not going to spend too much time on this album, as it's generally considered a classic of the genre. If you're interested in this sort of thing, there are way better writers than me who have already waxed poetic about the badassery contained herein. 

At the Gates reunited and released a new album in 2014 (to much critical acclaim)... but there's just no way to top this one. Melodic Death Metal (or "Melodeath" if you need to be THAT guy) would never be the same and countless bands have tried to climb to the top of the mountain At the Gates wrote this record from.

One last word: "GO!"

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Astrud "Superman EP: Vitra Center"

This seems a pretty obscure one, all things considered. I'm not sure why I bought this (or when, exactly), but I think it was right around the time I was digging Bows and Squab Teen and was looking for more electronic-infused indie stuff. Two guys from Barcelona (you can hear it in their accents), six songs (including a cover of a Pulp song), and an overall pleasant listen.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

2015 is Happening!

50 different tracks from 50 different artists. 2015 is shaping up to be a strong year. Of note: Viet Cong, Retox, Father John Misty, John Carpenter, and Magma(!)...

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Atheist "Unquestionable Presence"

Regarded as a seminal album in pushing Death Metal into Technical Death Metal, Atheist's classic album captured that early '90s death metal vibe but fuzed it with jazz and progressive elements that blew people's minds. I didn't come around to this album until after I had gone through my math rock and then prog rock phase... which was probably for the best as I'm not sure I could have appreciated it quite as much otherwise.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Arcturus "The Sham Mirrors"

Symphonic sci-fi metal with Mayhem's Hellhammer on drums (likely how I discovered this album). Arcturus is too weird for the Cradle of Filth crowd, and probably not heavy enough for the Septicflesh crowd, but if metal peanut butter in symphonic chocolate sounds delicious to you, hey... it's free to listen to via Spotify, below. I actually bought this thing.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Arti e Mestieri "Giro Di Valzer Per Domani"

After graduating college, a friend and I started a band in NYC called A Career In Plastics. The drummer who ended up joining was a huge prog fan, and turned me on to a genre I had dismissed as a youngster (becoming a musician probably helped me come around, as did years of listening to math rock without knowing where most of those bands had found their influence).

As I typically do, once I find a genre I like, I go HAM. Once I realized prog wasn't just ELP wankery, I disappeared down a rabbit hole... emerging with a slew of obscure and less-listened-to artists who never had a Roundabout moment in America. 

Arti e Mestieri hit my radar because their drummer was supposed to be a beast. And, as it turns out, he was. While the band never became an obsession for me (like, say, Magma did), this album certainly got its fair share of plays. 

Check this out - the drummer is all, "yeah, you guys play stuff... I'm just gonna go apeshit back here."

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Archers of Loaf "Icky Mettle"

An absolute classic.

I have a very vivid memory of first hearing this album and thinking, "Sort of like Superchunk." In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I would think that (probably just my frame of reference at the time). 

I can't overstate how impactful this album was at the time, nor how many times I played it. To this day, "Wrong" ends up on more playlists than I care to mention (partially because my obsession with playlists can teeter on the brink of unhealthy).

Indie rock in the late '90s was starting to drift in different directions, but this album seemed a direct descendant of the best of '80s and '90s indie/underground and Archers of Loaf seemed the logical torch-bearers for the oughts.

Of course, that's not quite what happened... and indie rock itself would take an unexpected turn with Arcade Fire's "Funeral" album... but when Icky Mettle dropped, it felt like the future.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: The Appleseed Cast "Low Level Owl: Volumes I & II"

An ambitious double album that captures emo and post-rock in equal measure, The Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl albums are, at their best, a new generation's take on prog (not in the complexity sense; more in the expansive sense) and, at their worst, wallpaper. These are albums that require investment, and the rewards are pleasant - but likely not incredibly memorable. 

That said, these got a lot of play the summer I discovered them - at the time they were separate albums... seems they've been re-released as a double album - and they are certainly more summer than winter albums; there's a warmth and hopefulness wrapped in the reverb. Also to be noted, I love the production on this album, especially the drums. Start with "On Reflection" if you only have time for one song.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: The Apples In Stereo "Her Wallpaper Reverie"

Admittedly, this is far from their best album, but it's the only one I actually bought. Why? I have no idea - of all the Elephant 6 bands, these guys never really rose to the top of my list (even though they were arguably one of the most popular). That entire Elephant 6 period seems like an odd, brief moment in time right when the internet was starting to connect scenes and artists, but not so far down that path that labels and the connective tissue between bands that transcended locality had been severed by fragmentation and overabundance. 

Elf Power, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control... all bands I listened to because of their association with each other. Outside of metal, do collectives still exist? Do people discover bands through their connections to other bands (outside of individual scenes)?

Who knows what kids are up to these days, really. I'm already dead.

"Ruby" is the song to listen to, btw.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to. 

[thegabriellewis]

Physical Media: Aphex Twin "I Care Because You Do"

This was the album that started my journey into electronic music. The song that did it was "Ventolin," and it was one of the most abrasive, annoying, and amazing things I had ever heard up to that point. I have memories of driving around BLASTING it as loud as anyone could tolerate - and it's probably no coincidence that I would start really enjoying electronic music right around the time controlled substances entered the picture. Oh, college... what a miserable/great time you were.

Listen to "Ventolin." Seriously.

*Physical Media is the alphabetical revisiting of curated selections from my now dormant CD collection. I’ll share some music, some musings, and probably realize I can sell a lot of this stuff back at this point. Out of print or hard-to-find stuff without a digital presence to embed or link to is uploaded, but happy to remove if for some reason someone out there wants me to.