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  • Recommend me some shoegaze

    5 fév. 2012, 4h58m

    I'm looking to push into a new genre, and shoegaze sounds pretty promising. I already listen to a lot of shoegaze-influenced post-black metal; Alcest, Wheels Within Wheels, Heretoir, etc. And I like the tone of a lot of shoegaze bands, but coming from the metal side, the drumming is irritatingly simplistic (for example The Meeting Places) (a.k.a. why can't Winterhalter do drums for every album).

    So, Internet, if you could kindly point me in the direction of some good shoegaze; top-notch drumming is a bonus. Oh, and not too much electronica. I may listen to a bit of M83 but I can only take them in very small doses for that reason.

    Petrychor Airiel Malory Interpol My Bloody Valentine Slowdive Deerhunter
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  • A Course in Western Philology with Medieval Folk & Metal

    9 jan. 2009, 3h34m

    Between In Extremo and Corvus Corax, both with readily available lyrics for their songs, the following languages are represented, arranged by frequency:

    German (53), Latin (48), Old French (14), Old German (13), Middle High German (7), Old Spanish (6), Swedish (4), English (3), Norwegian (3), Old Norwegian (2), Greek (2), Icelandic (2), Rotwelsch (2), Azerbijani (1), Breton (1), Estonian (1), French (1), Gaelic (1), and Hebrew (1).

    Add a smattering of other medieval and folk bands (Omnia, Schelmish, Faun) and to that list is added Scots, Middle English, Finnish, and Hungarian.

    That's 11 Germanic languages, 5 Romance, 3 Finno-Urgic, an Altaic, a Semitic, a Celtic, and a Hellenic.

    And every one of these bands is German (with the exception of Omnia, which is Dutch).

    I've said for a while that listening to (and identifying the languages used in) medieval folk and metal is practically a course in Western philology. I cannot imagine any other genre with such a high language-to-band ratio, and am consistently impressed with the research some of these bands (especially the first two) do into medieval texts to find some of these.
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  • Recommend me some black metal

    19 mai 2008, 7h13m

    I've really been appreciating Agalloch lately. The arrangements are beautiful, the length isn't bothersome, and I'm starting to get used to (and even enjoy to some degree) the harsh vocals. I also recently discovered and am enjoying Ulver's Bergtatt (shame they went nuts after Nattens Madrigal). It's not surprising they sound very similar since Agalloch has admitted to basing their entire sound on Bergtatt. Unfortunately, all the related black metal last.fm recommends to me sounds harsh and unlistenable. I can't imagine Agalloch and Bergtatt have a completely unique sound, but I can't find anything else similar.

    I'd like to stay around the Agalloch/Bergtatt sound, but I'm not averse to straying into other territory. Followable melody of some sort is a must, whether on the guitar or singing, and nothing violently blasphemous like Finntroll. I like well produced music (i.e., no first wave underground black metal that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can). Some singing (as opposed to screaming) is nice, but not entirely necessary. I also like folk influence, but that's not necessary either. I know that sound picky, but I also know there's a lot more black metal out there than I'm capable of sorting through.

    I've been listening to old Vintersorg for quite a while as well, but that seems to be a distinctly different brand of black metal. Nevertheless I wouldn't mind at all more black metal along pre-Cosmic Genesis Vintersorg's lines. I also like Alcest a lot, but that's not black metal proper so much anymore.
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  • Recommend me some post-rock

    13 déc. 2007, 19h52m

    Well, I bought a month of eMusic just to get Steven Delopoulos's new album Straightjacket. And it was worth it, but now I have 17 downloads left that I don't know what to do with. My usual fare isn't the eMusic type, since their selection seems to cater more to the American Indie scene.

    So, I'm betting there's a lot of post-rock on eMusic. Obviously by the nature of post-rock I can't tell whether a band is good or not from the 30 second previews (honestly, they all sound terribly boring, but I'm hoping that's just a slow part of the songs). From what I already have, Explosions in the Sky is pretty good, Caspian is great, and Alcest is amazing (ok, that's not "post-rock" in the strictest sense, but it's close enough).

    As for things I don't want: Sigur Rós. Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I've heard them and am not thrilled. Don't hate me for it, please.
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  • Questions About Musical Snobbery

    2 juin 2007, 5h47m

    There are three groups of people from whom I see musical snobbery the most: fans, / fans, and fans. I've been wondering for a while why this is - is it because these three genres are superior to others in that they can foster legitimate snobbery, or is it that at the present moment they're all at that point in limbo - enough out of the mainstream to make their fans feel cool, but not obscure enough that no one's ever heard of it, or is it something else entirely?

    I have questions for fans of these musics - not at all loaded (I don't care one way or another whether snobbery is good or bad) - I'm just looking for honest answers. Honestly.

    To Classic Rock Fans: What makes classic rock great that got lost along the way to ? What does Led Zeppelin have that Nickelback (for example) doesn't? Is the issue even style, or is the appeal just because the music is old?

    To Indie/Post-Rock Fans: What makes the skill playing these genres better than the skill used to play other genres? It often seems to me that the raw talent of artists like Sufjan Stevens is so highly acclaimed, but what makes them better than the talent behind DragonForce, for example? Why are your genres in absolute terms "better" than others?

    To Metal Fans: Well, you guys generally don't interact much with fans of other genres at all or condemn much music that isn't the junk within your own genre, so I guess I don't have anything to ask. But really, what's with so much Satan? Methinks you doth protest too much sometimes. And legible band logos couldn't hurt either (I'm looking at you, Leviathan).
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