Articles

Muse
Tool x2
Mastodon x2
Slayer x2
Pearl Jam x2
Dream Theater x2
Pelican
Static X
Ill Nino
Necro
Decapitated
Nile
Obituary
Bloodduster
A Perfect Circle
Karnivool x4
Midnight Juggernauts x3
Miami Horror x2
Art vs. Science x2
Parkway Drive
Jane's Addiction x2
HIM
Baroness
Clutch
Isis
The Basics
The Cassette Kids
AC\DC
Les Claypool
Status Quo
Alice in Chains
Calvin Harris
girltalk
Fuck....I'm Dead x2
Beyond Terror Beyond Grace x5
Grave
Suffocation
Ebolie x5
Cog
Mudvayne x2
Abramelin
Architecture in Helsinki
Black Sabbath
John Butler Trio x2
Insect Warfare
Napalm Death
Cannibal Corpse x2
Deicide
Psycroptic x2
Hilltop Hoods x3
Drapht
Louie Knuxx
Children of Bodom x2
Cryptopsy
Bloc Party
The Beautiful Girls
Carcass
Flaming Lips
The Day Everything Became Nothing
Frenzal Rhomb x2
Mammal x2
The Getaway Plan
Kreator
Marduk
Mars Volta
The Prodigy
Pendulum
Skinless x2
Psi Kore
Black Kids
Battles
Nine Inch Nails
DragonForce
Nevermore
Hatebreed

DookieMestrebug's top albums (12 months) 1. Black Drawing Chalks - Life Is a Big Holiday for Us (287) 2. mclusky - mclusky Do Dallas (282) 3. Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (218) 4. Jeff Buckley - Grace (212) 5. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures (206) 6. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely (197) 7. White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000 (194) 8. Nine Inch Nails - Beside You In Time (176) 9. Ultraje a Rigor - Acústico MTV (172) 10. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (171) 11. Jet - Shaka Rock (164) 12. Underschool Element - Rien de plus (163) 13. Corrosion of Conformity - Wiseblood (153) 14. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (150) 15. The White Stripes - Elephant (141) 16. Stone Gods - Silver Spoons & Broken Bones (140) 17. Ash - Meltdown (139) 18. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (136) 19. Vivendo do Ócio - Teorias de Amor Moderno (135) 20. Vivendo do Ócio - Nem Sempre Tão Normal (133) 21. The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off (130) 22. Living Colour - The Chair In The Doorway (128) 23. Jay Vaquer - Formidável Mundo Cão (128) 24. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill (127) 25. Gemini Five - Babylon Rockets (127) 26. Audioslave - Audioslave (124) 27. Les Claypool - Of Whales and Woe (123) 28. Butthole Surfers - Independent Worm Saloon (122) 29. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (122) 30. Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance (121) 31. Titãs - Tudo ao Mesmo Tempo Agora (121) 32. Raimundos - Lavô Tá Novo (121) 33. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (119) 34. The Jesus Lizard - Liar (119) 35. Bad Brains - I Against I (118) 36. Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum (116) 37. Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (116) 38. New Model Army - The Ghost of Cain (115) 39. Rob Zombie - The Sinister Urge (115) 40. Lobão - Sob o Sol de Parador (112) 41. Faith No More - Angel Dust (112) 42. Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union (110) 43. CAKE - Prolonging the Magic (109) 44. The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (108) 45. Faith No More - King For A Day , Fool For A Lifetime (108) 46. Eagle-Eye Cherry - Desireless (107) 47. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak (107) 48. Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel - Highball With the Devil (106) 49. Priestess - Hello Master (106) 50. Wipers - Is This Real? (105)

01. Les Claypool
Date: 05 Dec 2009
Venue: Fowlers Live
Support: Dr El Suavo
Highlights: Fisticuffs, Cosmic Highway
Notes: I have never been late to a show before this day (at least not for the headlining band anyway), so imagine how pissed off I was that the first time I'm late to a show is for one of my all time favourite musicians.
Having said that, I got there part way through Fisticuffs and soon got over the disappointment and substituted it for complete awe. I'm pretty sure anyone would have thought I was either very high or mentally retarded had they have looked at me.
[last.fm link]

02. Melvins
Date: 27 Jan 2009
Venue: Ding Dong Lounge
Support: Umläut
Highlights: Copache, Atlas Face (with Mike Patton)
Notes: An appearance from Mike Patton during Umläut's set and Melvins playing all of Houdini make this something that I think I would have had to destroy children had I have missed it.
I now feel like a complete moron for not caring when they supported Tool in 2002 and even more of a moron for choosing to see Sepultura in 2003 instead of doing the Ipecac geek show but hindsight is an amazing thing.
If you ever get a chance to do it, see the Melvins or you're a bigger moron than the underage Ash was.
[last.fm link]

03. Mogwai
Date: 05 Mar 2009
Venue: Forum Theatre
Support: Beaches
Highlights: Christmas Steps, We're No Here
Notes: I wasn't a massive fan of Beaches. I wouldn't say they were shit, I just wasn't a fan.
Mogwai were the first band I considered traveling interstate to see when they were touring Mr. Beast and didn't play Adelaide (actually it might have been Isis when they toured for Panopticon, who cares?). Due to financial issues, that never happened so when they announced this tour I had quite a high excitement and expectation level.
Mogwai were amazing and pretty much everything I hoped they would be. A lot of people complained about the long noisy wankfest ending to We're No Here but I loved it so fuck everyone else.
[last.fm link]

04. Serj Tankian & Fantômas
Date: 25 Jan 2009
Venue: Palace Theatre
Highlights: Rosemary's Baby, Space Oddity
Notes: I love Mike Patton so Fantômas were always going to be on this list, especially when Dale Crover was drumming for them (refer to previous Melvins praise). Fantômas were so good that I actually hunted down a cheap Big Day Out ticket so I could see them again at Adelaide BDO (thank you Neil Young for making this possible).
Serj was great fun, for me to say my highlight of that set was a Bowie cover is not so much me saying I think his material is shit but more I really enjoyed the way they did the song (plus Bowie just wins at everything). This show's so high on my list purely due to Fantômas though.
[last.fm link]

05. Soundwave
Date: 28 Feb 2008
Venue: Bonython Park
Bands: Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, The Dillinger Escape Plan & Bloodhound Gang
Highlights: When Good Dogs Do Bad Things, Wish (with TDEP)
Notes: This was my first Soundwave and I'd like to state that I'll be quite pissed off if this doesn't last as long as BDO has. Having said that, the first few BDO lineups were also amazing and we know where they are now so there's still time for Soundwave to go shit.
Moving on, Nine Inch Nails are a band that I've always wanted to see but not enough to bother traveling to see when they decided to skip Adelaide. Having now seen them, I'm a little pissed that I waited until what seems like it will have been their last tour with the huge light show. Plus seeing Greg and Ben from TDEP play Wish with them was amazing.
Anyone avoiding Alice in Chains now because "it's not Layne" is a moron. William DuVall has a great voice and I can't help but respect someone that doesn't try and imitate Layne when singing these songs. Plus a lot of the sound came from Cantrell's backing vocals anyway.
If you know me, you know I crap on about Dillinger to much so I'll just say they were incredible again and leave it at that.
[last.fm link]

06. Cult of Luna
Date: 17 Feb 2009
Venue: Fowlers Live
Support: Eleventh He Reaches London
Highlights: Ghost Trail, Following Betulas
Notes: I quite liked the support band but for some reason I forgot to keep a note of them to catch them next time they're in Adelaide. Things I'm doing after I finish this: That.
I never really rated Cult of Luna too highly as a band based on their albums prior to this. I always knew they were good but kind of viewed them as a diet-Isis. I now know I'm retarded because they are amazing live and I appreciate them so much more now.
[last.fm link]

07. Black Cobra
Date: 03 Oct 2009
Venue: Enigma Bar
Support: Space Bong, Thunderclaw & Blarke Bayer / Black Widow
Notes: I wont pretend I know Black Cobra well enough to be able to say which songs of there's were the highlight of their set. They were a band I decided to see after hearing a couple of songs on Myspace and after having seen that Heathen Skulls were responsible for them being in the country.
I was thoroughly impressed by this band, especially the sound that they get with being a two-piece. I'll definitely see them again if I ever get the opportunity.
[last.fm link]

08. Lightning Bold
Date: 27 Nov 2009
Venue: Fowlers Live
Support: Bronze Chariot & Robotosaurus
Notes: It's pretty much the same story with Lightning Bolt as it was with Black Cobra. I'd listened to Lightning Bolt a little before seeing them but was mainly seeing them based on the fact that it was a Heathen Skulls show. Plus Grey Daturas and Primitive Calculators were meant to be supporting which changed some time before the night.
This is another two-piece that I was extremely impressed by as well. Brian Chippendale is an amazing drummer and anyone who disagrees with me should get new ears.
[last.fm link]

09. Monarch!
Date: 27 Feb 2009
Venue: Enigma Bar
Support: Support: Robotosaurus, Agonhymn & Cunt Scrape
Notes: Facts about this night:
1. This was the last day of work as we were all made redundant.
2. Copious amounts of drinking happened prior to this gig based on work drinks that started at 5pm.
The result of this was Ash being quite drunk and losing track of time. I thought the progression of events would be Robotosaurus, Cunt Scrape, Agonhymn and then Monarch. I planned to get there part way through Cunt Scrape as I really wanted to see Agonhymn. I got there part way through the 3rd band which were Robotosaurus, this is what happens when you get drunk and lose track of time.
Anyway, from what I remember of the night Monarch were amazing. I can't wait to see them again and not be as drunk next time around.
[last.fm link]

10. Megadeth
Date: 11 Oct 2009
Venue: Thebarton Theatre
Support: Double Dragon
Highlights: Sweating Bullets, Head Crusher
Notes: This was meant to be Slayer and Megadeth but Slayer pulled out to Tom Araya getting laryngitis. This meant Megadeth got a full set which I was pleased about because I've seen Slayer and they were outdone by Mastodon so I could care less if I saw them on this tour (although seeing two of the big four on the one night would have been great).
Megadeth were insanely fun and I'm extremely annoyed for having not seen them prior to this tour.
[last.fm link]

- Favourite albums:

1. Archive - Controlling Crowds (I-IV)




I didn't expect any album to top Porcupine Tree's new record, but Archive managed to impress me most this year. I first got to know about the band on my last.fm recommendations and by seeing that they'd come to Munich in October. Loving concept records, I knew this could be an interesting album. At first, it didn't impress me that much to be honest.
The album really clicked for me while being on a 4-hour drive through the alps on my way to a five day trip to a glacier with my geography course. Somehow the landscape of the austrian alps matched perfectly with the album's sound - I even started to love the three songs with their rapper Rosko John (I'm usually not very fond of rapping).
I love the album's dense atmopshere created by both weird sound effects and the lyrics. I also never heard a band with four individual vocalists - all of them add so much variety to the sound of Archive.
Even the bonus tracks of the album, especially Killing All Movement, have the same quality of the album tracks.
Part IV, that was released seperately in October, has not really clicked for me yet, but I guess I just need a couple more listens to fully appreciate it, since I absolutely adore the first three parts.

I was lucky to see them perform the first two parts of the record live in Munich. Their live visuals even intensified the listening experience and especially Pollard Berrier stood out as a very charismatic performer.

Controlling Crowds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYVjjrpz-Ds
Collapse/Collide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IGWlPoIjpY

2. Porcupine Tree - The Incident Limited Deluxe Edition




Porcupine Tree's new album was of course the one I was looking forward to most this year. The idea of a 55 minute song-cycle got me very excited and I didn't want to miss the limited deluxe edition since I unfortunately missed the Insurgentes deluxe edition at the end of 2008. This time, I finally managed to order a copy soon enough. Even though I consider myself as a very patient person, waiting for the package to finally arrive was really straining, especially since I forced myself to no listen to any snippet or studio footage beforehand, because I wanted my first listen of the album to be in surround sound.
Both discs are incredibly inspiring: the recurring chord progression in "The Incident", the intuitive use of odd time signatures and the band compositions, where the other band members finally get a chance to shine: Flicker with a beautiful bass line by Colin Edwin (whose solo album Third Vessel narrowly missed my top 10), Bonnie the Cat with it's creative drum beat by Gavin Harrison and Black Dahlia, which was entirely composed by Richard Barbieri.
Listening to the record in 5.1 surround sound with the accompanying book of amazing artwork (done by Lasse Hoile as usual) and lyrics adds very much to the listening experience and absorbed me into it's dark atmosphere.
I also loved their full lenght live performance of The Incident, they managed to deliver it perfectly! I was lucky to see them live twice this year, one time focused on the visuals (once more, genius job by Lasse Hoile) and the second time more on the band performance. In connection with Stick Men opening for them playing King Crimson's Indiscipline amongst others, this second gig was my favourite concert this year.

Take a look at the book of artwork here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28584265@N06/sets/72157622269812675/

3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest



John Gourley, the lead singer and guitarist of Portugal. The Man highly recommended this album via their homepage, so I thought I should give it a listen on myspace since I never heard anything by Grizzly Bear so far.
As soon as Two Weeks started, I knew this could be an album for me. Then I discovered the site La Blogotheque - concerts à emporter and the gorgeous performances by them.
I really adore the album because of it's experimental use of uncommom chords while keeping the song structures rather simple (besides using a couple of odd time signatures). I think it's rare that music is catchy and experimental at the same time.
I just found an interesting track-by-track description by the band here.
Their concert in Munich was a highlight of the year, too - I loved the great performance as well as their simple but very beautiful lighting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Y9XETUKmE

Ready, Able (Official Video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puph1hejMQE

4. Steven Wilson - Insurgentes



As mentioned above, it really was a bummer that I missed the deluxe editon of this album since I really enjoyed Lasse Hoile's artwork and the 18 minute excerpt of the accompanying documentary of the album which highly influenced my own view on packaging and albums as a journey.
At least the digibook release of the album contained a 5.1. surround sound mix, too. I love the way Steven Wilson mixes in surround sound and I doubt this album would be so high on my list if I only had a stereo mix.
I can't describe the intense goosebumps I get by listening to Get All You Deserve in 5.1 - it's such a simple but ingenious idea to start of with a beautifully calm piano ballad and then destroying the beauty with this eerie white noise he came up with.
I love the fact that this record covers basically every musical side of Steven Wilson ranging from Progressive Rock (Harmony Korine), Drone (Get All You Deserve), Trip-Hop mixed with Drone (Abandoner) and Experimental (No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun) to Ambient (Veneno Para Las Hadas), beautiful piano ballads (Insurgentes) and even Post-Rock elements (Only Child) while still somehow keeping an overall sound that makes the album best when listened to as a whole.

I also really enjoyed participating in the Abandoner Remix competition.

Harmony Korine (Official Video by Lasse Hoile):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BClzBQmZZBc

5. Isis- Wavering Radiant



Isis is a band I discovered a couple of years ago via youtube - I loved the sound of In Fiction but the vocals weren't my cup of tea at that time. After getting into growls a bit more through Opeth last year, I was looking forward to this album and hoping to dig the vocals, too.
The album didn't impress me much at the beginning, the growl parts seemed rather unfitting next to the melodic instrumental parts. But over the year, the album grew on me more and more, I started to really like the complex arrangements of the songs and the overall flow of the record. A couple of days ago, I was completely blown away by the album, so now I can say that it's definately one of my favourite "heavy" records ever!

Their concert in Munich was great, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACI9vsZpqY

20 Minutes / 40 Years (Official Video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3NkhjsBf0

6. Arms and Sleepers - Matador



Arms And Sleepers is a band I discovered through Last.fm.
I only bought the album at the beginnnig of this month but it never really left my hi-fi system since then and somehow it ended up being very high on my list.
I love it's calm, even fragile sound - exactly what I needed to guide me through this season. This is just perfect for cold snowy winter evenings, listening through headphones with goosebumps all over your body. Too bad I won't be able to see any of their concerts in Germany next year...

Nice short interview with the band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRD8_qBot4Y

Download the song The Architekt for free legally here: http://www.pluginmusic.com/freemusic/armsandsleepers

7. Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia



Here comes another artist that I discovered via Last.fm. The song The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning popped up on my recommendations radio and I instantly fell in love with the band's sound.
I bought their new record only knowing that one song, so I couldn't believe my ears when the intro synth riff of Les Malheurs started.
The album is very different to their first effort, but once you accept that, this album has so much to offer. Regarding the reviews, many people obviously couldn't deal with the industrial and even electronic sound of AVO, but I love when bands decide to make something completly different if they keep the quality on the same level. Combined with their beautifully arranged vocal harmonies, the overall sound of the album as a whole is pretty weird and nothing I've ever heard so far, which is probably also a main reason why I like it so much.

Their live performances of the album are amazing, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hCDv5kWd5E

8. Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship



Tortoise has also been on my last.fm recommendations list for quite some time now, so their new album seemed like the ideal opportunity to finally get into them.
Beacons Of Ancestorship really impressed me because of it's unique sound outside of any genre and it's experimental use of both synthesizers and two drums playing simultaneously.
Simple but very creative ideas like the rhythm of Charteroak Foundation (the guitar starts in triads giving the listener the impression the song is in 6/8 - then the drums kick in with a straight 4/4 beat and the whole thing turns around) make the album special for me.
Their concert in Munich this summer was one of my favourites this year, too.
It was very interesting to see how they play these songs live, especially with the two drums in the front of the stage. In addition, they seemed to dig their music very much which I always enjoy seeing. Last but not least their visuals created a very nice mood in connection with the music.

Check out a few live performances here:
http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2016-tortoise/1

Picture set of the band live:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanck/sets/72157622086726080/detail/

9. John Frusciante - The Empyrean



Over the last couple of years, I lost basically all of my interest in the Red Hot Chili Peppers and instead discovered that John Frusciante's solo albums were more than just a side project. When the rumours about John leaving RHCP came up which were verified by him only a couple of days later on his web site, stating that his interests changed into "making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer" and that he thinks that "art has never been something done out of a sense of duty", my respect and adoration for him as a musician soared.

Here is an incredibly inspiring interview with him on the album, but also inspiring for life in general - at least for me ;):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfw7YRpkfY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSJKfLS75o

10. The Mars Volta - Octahedron



We all know that Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez has raised the standards when it comes to the quanitity of releases a year (he released 6 solo albums this year!), but regardless of that I didn't expect to hear another TMV record so soon after last year's The Bedlam in Goliath.
For this album, Omar decided to limit himself and write a more straight forward album without "adding 97 parts to the song". I really like the outcome, it's very different to the wall of sound of TBIG, it has a more pyschedelic and acoustic sound which adds even more variety to their sound. Of course this album is still very complex and innovative non the less.
It's a shame though that their amazing drummer Thomas Pridgen had to leave the band before the start of their european tour...but at least I could see him in action with them once more at the Southside Festival this summer!

Needless to say that the "simple" songs still kick ass live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra8GIp2a3OI

- Favourite EPs:

- Arms and Sleepers - The Motorist



- Kaki King - Mexican Teenagers EP



- Oceansize - Home & Minor



- Puscifer - "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P.



- Honourable mentions:

- Oceansize - Feed To Feed
- Long Distance Calling - Avoid The Light
- Colin Edwin - Third Vessel
- Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
- Tim McMillan - 2.13
- Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
- dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
- Tosca - No Hassle
- Benny Greb - Brass Band
- múm - Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know
- Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe
- Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist
- Panzerballett - Hart Genossen Von Abba Bis Zappa
- Russian Circles - Geneva
- Sunn O))) - Monoliths and dimensions
- Eels - Hombre Lobo
- De-Phazz - Big

- Disappointments:

- God Is an Astronaut - God Is An Astronaut
- Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind
- Jan Delay - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul

- Not listened enough yet or not at all:

- Air - Love 2
- Andrew White - Walk in Light
- Antoine Dufour & Tommy Gauthier - Still Strings
- Baroness - Blue Record
- Ben Harper & The Relentless 7 - White Lies For Dark Times
- Birdpen - On/Off/Safety/Danger
- Craig D'Andrea - Getting Used To Isolation
- Don Ross - Any Colour
- Emergency Room - The Funky Side Of The Moon
- Gilfema - Gilfema
- Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
- Lymbyc Systym - Shutter Release
- Medeski, Martin and Wood - Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set
- Pelican - What We All Come To Need
- pg.lost - In never out
- Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder
- Stick Men - Stick Men
- St. Vincent - Actor
- Tingvall Trio - Vattensaga
- The American Dollar / Arms and Sleepers - From The Inland Sea
- The Cat Empire - Live On Earth
- The Flaming Lips - Embyonic
- The Mercury Program - Chez Viking
- Tides From Nebula - Aura
- Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - Restored, Returned
- The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
- Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost

- Favourite album covers:

- Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition:



- The Mars Volta - Octahedron:



- Tides From Nebula - Aura



- Favourite packaging:

- Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps Special Edition:




This deluxe edition was just too lovely to miss. Besides the album itself and the additional All Animals EP, the package contains the amazing Riceboy Sleeps book of artwork by Jónsi & Alex, a badge and on top of it, a coloring book and a set of pencils.

You can get an impression here:
Riceboy Sleeps Book
Coloring Book

- Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist:



Regarding the artwork, Portugal. The Man really came up with something unique for this record. As shown in the picture above, the artwork can be transformed in various ways in order to create new variations.
For me, this album is a perfect example of a nice package while keeping a reasonable and affordable price.

- Porcupine Tree - The Incident Limited Deluxe Edition:



This one, instead, is a perfect example of a really lavish package.
The deluxe edition of The Incident contains the album on 2 CDs, a 5.1 surround mix of the album on the DVD, a softcover book of pretty weird drawings by Hajo Müller and a very big hardcover book with extensive artwork and the lyrics all housed in a nice solid slipcase.

- Medeski, Martin and Wood - Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set



This package contains the three studio albums Radiolarians I, Radiolarians II and Radiolarians III, a Live-Album (Explorarians: Live), a Remixalbum (Remixolarians), a double vinyl LP set with selected tracks from the three records and on top of it, a DVD with a feature-lenght documentary on the making of the Radiolarians series.

- Favourite concerts:

- 1. Porcupine Tree & Stick Men, Munich, Tonhalle
- 2. Archive & Birdpen, Munich, Backstage
- 3. Tim McMillan Band, Munich, Ars Musica
- 4. Grizzly Bear & St. Vincent, Munich, Theaterfabrik
- 5. Tortoise, Munich, Ampere
- 6. Nine Inch Nails, Southside Festival
- 7. Blackfield, Munich, Ampere
- 8. Zappa Plays Zappa, Munich, Theaterfabrik
- 9. Maceo Parker / Tower of Power, Munich, Muffathalle
- 10. The Twilight Sad, Munich, Atomic Café / Pure Reason Revolution,
Munich, 59:1 / Isis, Munich, Hansa 39

Special place for the Sunn O))) concert in
Munich, Hansa 39 – incredible experience (((((O)))))
Take a look at this review, it describes the experience perfectly:



- Discoveries:

Archive, Grizzly Bear, Isis, Tortoise, Long Distance Calling, Leech,
Pure Reason Revolution, Katatonia, Tim McMillan, Stebmo, Riverside,
Paatos, Tosca, múm, Earth, dredg, Russian Circles, Pelican,
Mike Dillon's Go-Go Jungle, Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet, Fleet Foxes,
Buckethead, Calexico, Sunn O))), Nneka, Chris Gall Trio, Benny Greb,
Tord Gustavsen Trio, Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, God Is an Astronaut,
Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin, Stick Men, Ulver, Battles, Arms and Sleepers

Holy crap, so many great albums were released this year that it was difficult for me to narrow this album down to just 25 picks. Before I start naming my top albums, here's just a list of honorable mentions, all of which probably could have found their way onto my list:

3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom
Alestorm - Black Sails At Midnight
Arsonists Get All The Girls - Portals
Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
Austrian Death Machine - Double Brutal
Be'lakor - Stone's Reach
Billy Talent - Billy Talent III
Buckethead - Slaughterhouse On The Prairie
Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
Cormorant - Metazoa
Dååth - The Concealers
Dalriada - Arany-Album
Deströyer 666 - Defiance
Dethklok - Dethalbum II
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Eluveitie - Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
Evile - Infected Nations
Exivious - Exivious
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
Fu Manchu - Signs Of Infinite Power
God Forbid - Earthsblood
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
House Of Broken Promises - Using The Useless
Insomnium - Across The Dark
Kalisia - Cybion
Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage
Kong - What It Seems Is What You Get
Lamb Of God - Wrath
Mantic Ritual - Executioner
NOFX - Coaster
OSI - Blood
Revocation - Existence Is Futile
Scale The Summit - Carving Desert Canyons
Scar Symmetry - Dark Matter Dimensions
Skeletonwitch - Breathing The Fire
Skyclad - In The... All Together
Slayer - World Painted Blood
Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club
Suidakra - Crógacht
The Company Band - The Company Band
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Warbringer - Waking Into Nightmares
White Wizzard - High Speed GTO
Wino - Punctuated Equilibrium
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg

See what I mean? Anyway, without further ado, the list.

25) Mastodon - Crack The Skye: So many people have this album at the top of their lists. I personally liked the album a great deal, but didn't feel that it was up to the quality of their previous work.

24) Katatonia - Night Is The New Day: I'm a bit new to Katatonia, but I really found myself enjoying this album early on. I heard some similarities to Opeth that really helped draw me in.

23) HORSE the band - Desperate Living: HtB can always be relied on for some serious weirdness with their music, and this was no different. I felt it improved upon A Natural Death, although it's not quite as great as The Mechanical Hand was.

22) Obscura - Cosmogenesis: This was the album that really drew into technical death metal, and was one of my favorites of the year. The fretless bass work is fantastic.

21) Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da: It had been too long since the last album Rammstein had released an album, and considering the direction the band had taken with their last few albums, I was worried at how this one would come out. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. Their best work since Mutter.

20) Koffin Kats - Forever For Hire: As far as I'm concerned, Koffin Kats are the best psychobilly band out there, and they continued to reinforce that opinion with this release.

19) Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar Chapter 01 & 02: The man known as Klayton began releasing his latest album two tracks at a time this year. These first two chapters are excellent and really left me wanting more.

18) Les Claypool - Of Fungi And Foe: Ah, Les Claypool. The mad genius from Primus continues to get weirder with age, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

17) Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect: For a long time I believed BTBAM to be a screamo band based solely on their name; as it turned out, I was completely wrong. And I have never been happier to be proven wrong.

16) KMFDM - Blitz: KMFDM are a bit like the AC/DC of industrial rock... you always know what you're getting with their music, and yet, it's still pretty damn great.

15) TrollfesT - Villanden: In addition to possessing the most patently ridiculous album art, Villanden is a deliriously entertaining blast of bizarre folk metal. Enjoyable from start to finish.

14) Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió: I was really surprised at how much this album grew on me, considering my usual opinions on black metal. Then again, Thy Catafalque is not your typical black metal. The highlight for me is the 19 minute, 11 second Molekuláris gépezetek, which digresses into a hypnotic drumbeat with a smattering of saxophone and piano before its final metallic crescendo.

13) Devin Townsend Project - Ki & Addicted: Both of these albums could easily occupy spots on this list, but for the sake of simplicity I'm combining them. Ki's mellow, propulsive guitars are an amazing complement to the bombastic pop-metal riffs of Addicted.

12) Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11: 2009 was the year I learned that acoustic guitars can shred just as hard as electric when played right. This album blew my mind.

11) Megadeth - Endgame: Dave Mustaine may be a dick, but he showed this year that he still remembers Megadeth's thrash roots, and subsequently released his best work since Rust In Peace. Endgame is as great a return to form as Death Magnetic was for Metallica.

10) Supercommuter - Supercommuter: Alright, I like a bit of nerdcore hip-hop now and then, and Optimus Rhyme was probably the cream of the crop until their unfortunate decision to part ways. Take vocalist Wheelie Cyberman, replace the funk rock beats with 8-bit bleeps, and you have a recipe for success.

9) Animals as Leaders - Animals As Leaders: Tosin Abasi managed to make an instrumental metal album that doesn't really sound like anything I've ever heard, brilliantly showing just what a guitarist is capable.

8) Metroid Metal - Varia Suite: Seeing as Powerglove didn't get an album out this year, I had to find my fix of video game metal elsewhere. Fortunately, Metroid Metal was more than up to the task, transforming the music of the Metroid games into some sublimely brilliant instrumental metal.

7) Amorphis - Skyforger: Amorphis' last three albums now have been consistently brilliant, with fantastic vocals, evocative lyrics, and beautifully heavy music. Truly an incredible album.

6) Baroness - Blue Record: As great as Baroness' previous work was, I felt that there was a certain unevenness that kept me from really enjoying them. Blue Record took care of that.

5) Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious: It's not often that you find an artist that truly does something original in music, but DSO do just that by mashing metal, jazz, swing, opera, and electronic into one amazing package. This album is unlike anything you have ever heard, and it's an incredible ride from start to finish.

4) Priestess - Prior To The Fire: Priestess got some much-deserved recognition when their song 'Lay Down' was included on Guitar Hero, but their last album, while solid, was not great. Prior To The Fire completely and totally blows away anything they've done and elevates stoner rock to a new level.

3) Ensiferum - From Afar: Ensiferum have long been recognized as one of the premier bands in folk metal, with a flair for epic songs, and they continue to separate themselves from the pack on From Afar. Not only do they have the two 10+ minute epic 'Heathen Stone' tracks, but they actually incorporate some Ennio Morricone-style western sounds and a shredding banjo solo on 'Stone Cold Metal' and make it work. Phenomenal.

2) Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West: I was almost certain that this album would be number one on my list this year, simply because it's Clutch. They consistently manage to release incredible blues/stoner rock and yet seem fresh, and like a fine wine they only get better with age.

1) Gorod - Process Of A New Decline: This album came out of nowhere and completely ripped my face off. Obscura may have really gotten me a taste of tech-death, but Gorod made me realize just what could be done within the genre. In spite of the dizzying tempo changes, ridiculous guitar leads, and light-speed drumming, I discovered that the riffs were memorable and that there were moments where the band actually slowed things down just a bit and settled into a groove. I never thought that technical death metal could be described as catchy... and yet, Gorod manages to achieve just that. Unbelievable.

All the music on this list is less than a year old. In spite of this, each of these albums sets my toes a-tapping in a way heretofore unknown. For that reason, they deserve special merit.

The following albums are fraternizing with one EP and one mixtape. If their placement on this list OF ALBUMS concerns you, eat a dick. Also, if you expect explanations for my choices, eat another dick. I'm not that verbose.

10. Dan Deacon - Bromst


9. HEALTH - Get Color


8. The Mars Volta - Octahedron


7. Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect


6. Sage Francis - Sick Of Wasting...


5. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion


4. Basement Jaxx - Scars


3. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Xenophanes


2. Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next


1. Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe

Honorary Mention
All of these albums are either too young for me to have spent a significant amount of time with, or simply are inferior to the ten above them. Regardless, they are worthwhile enough to warrant some identification.

BLK JKS - After Robots


MSTRKRFT - Fist Of God


Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca


Easy Star All-Stars - Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band


Portugal, The Man - Satanic Satanist

First, make a list of your top-20 artists overall. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, count up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 8 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.

Similar artists
Thurston Moore
Ciccone Youth
Lee Ranaldo
Free Kitten
Dinosaur Jr. x2
Pixies
Yo La Tengo
Pavement x3
Zwan
Billy Corgan
James Iha
Silverchair
Stone Temple Pilots x2
Auf der Maur
Jane's Addiction
Soundgarden x3
A Tribe Called Quest
Run-D.M.C.
Cypress Hill
De La Soul
House of Pain
Public Enemy
OutKast
Fugees
John Lennon
George Harrison
Paul McCartney
Ringo Starr
Paul McCartney & Wings
Wings
The Who
The Rolling Stones
Morrissey
Joy Division
The Cure
Echo & The Bunnymen
New Order
The Stone Roses
Pulp
The Libertines
Modwheelmood
Trent Reznor
Marilyn Manson
Tweaker
Halo33
Black Light Burns
Puscifer x2
KMFDM
John Frusciante
Ataxia
Rage Against the Machine
Foo Fighters
Audioslave
Nirvana
John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer
Incubus
Skepta
JME
Roll Deep
Ghetto
Kano
Jammer
Frisco
Durrty Goodz
Eddie Vedder
Temple of the Dog
Alice in Chains
Mother Love Bone
Mad Season
Screaming Trees
Kanye West
Nas
R. Kelly & Jay-Z
Fabolous
Beanie Sigel
Lupe Fiasco
Notorious B.I.G.
Drake
Porno for Pyros
Perry Farrell
Dave Navarro
Satellite Party
The Panic Channel
Faith No More
Blind Melon
Tricky
Portishead
Lamb
UNKLE
Morcheeba
Hooverphonic
Sneaker Pimps
Archive
David Gilmour
Roger Waters
Syd Barrett
Led Zeppelin
The Doors
Rick Wright
Jefferson Airplane
King Crimson
Thom Yorke
Jonny Greenwood
Muse
Placebo
Coldplay
Interpol
Blur
Beck
The Chemical Brothers
Maxim
Pendulum
The Crystal Method
Fatboy Slim
Prodigy
Apollo 440
Lunatic Calm
fIREHOSE
Hüsker Dü
Mission of Burma
Wipers
Mike Watt
Saccharine Trust
Fugazi
Flipper
Les Claypool
Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel
Colonol Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains
Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
Sausage
Oysterhead
Infectious Grooves
Mr. Bungle
A Perfect Circle
Peach
ASHES dIVIDE
Rishloo
Riverside
Deftones
Porcupine Tree
The Breeders
Frank Black
Sonic Youth x2
Frank Black and the Catholics
Black Francis
The Flaming Lips x2
Built to Spill
Guided by Voices
Condo Fucks
Galaxie 500
The Sea and Cake

151/160

Nice!!