I'm sorry guys about relying so heavily on YouTube videos lately, but this has to be on here.
I wish I could look half as good as this man does in his outfit and mustache.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Well, I guess this is it
It was never my intention to drag out this top albums of the year, it just kind of happened. I've had this top 10 since December so it's hard to explain that I've been this lazy for four months, but that's exactly what it is...
Without any further adieu, my top albums of 2010...
2.) Arcade Fire, The Suburbs... I forgot to put 3 on my last post... whoops... this would have been it... Anyways, just look at the last post for my thoughts on this album.
And my top album of the year... You can go fuck yourself, it's a tie for first place.
1.) (Tie) The Social Network Soundtrack - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.
It pains me to put a fucking soundtrack in the top spot for my albums of the year, but for those who know me it might be somewhat obvious. I've always dug NIN and I've always been of fan of Post-Rock which means I can wrap my head around instrumental tracks and songs that kind of hang around. With this album, the tracks that hang around are simply beautiful and I can't find a track that shouldn't belong. With all that said, this is an amazing dark ambient album, but it just so happens to be a soundtrack. It's not only a soundtrack, but it helps make The Social Network what it is, a ridiculously impersonable film that makes the viewer question their friends.
And number one (I guess part two). I really had a hard time differentiating the top album because I had such a terrible time figuring out how much I loved each album (this will make sense once you see what my other top album is). The problem is that each album is so different in so many different ways. Not only that, each album is perfect as far as I'm concerned which makes any further criticism mute as far as I'm concerned.
Anyways, here's my (other) top album of 2010
1.) The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt.
This album is a fucking powerhouse. I consider myself very lucky for discovering this album. Sure, it's a folk album but that's like calling Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon just a rock album... But hell, I have to make it clear that I'm a fucking raving Bob Dylan fan and The Tallest Man on Earth in all his Scandinavian glory invokes Bob Dylan with his nonchalant, gravely voice but there is somehow something more...
I honestly can't put my finger on what makes The Wild Hunt my album of the year. It such as shit isn't the production. I guess it isn't the mysticism surrounding a Swede sounding like Bob Dylan and making magical music. I guess It's just the fact that this is an amazing album... I hate to say it, but Nuff' Said.
Without any further adieu, my top albums of 2010...
2.) Arcade Fire, The Suburbs... I forgot to put 3 on my last post... whoops... this would have been it... Anyways, just look at the last post for my thoughts on this album.
And my top album of the year... You can go fuck yourself, it's a tie for first place.
1.) (Tie) The Social Network Soundtrack - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.
It pains me to put a fucking soundtrack in the top spot for my albums of the year, but for those who know me it might be somewhat obvious. I've always dug NIN and I've always been of fan of Post-Rock which means I can wrap my head around instrumental tracks and songs that kind of hang around. With this album, the tracks that hang around are simply beautiful and I can't find a track that shouldn't belong. With all that said, this is an amazing dark ambient album, but it just so happens to be a soundtrack. It's not only a soundtrack, but it helps make The Social Network what it is, a ridiculously impersonable film that makes the viewer question their friends.
And number one (I guess part two). I really had a hard time differentiating the top album because I had such a terrible time figuring out how much I loved each album (this will make sense once you see what my other top album is). The problem is that each album is so different in so many different ways. Not only that, each album is perfect as far as I'm concerned which makes any further criticism mute as far as I'm concerned.
Anyways, here's my (other) top album of 2010
1.) The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt.
This album is a fucking powerhouse. I consider myself very lucky for discovering this album. Sure, it's a folk album but that's like calling Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon just a rock album... But hell, I have to make it clear that I'm a fucking raving Bob Dylan fan and The Tallest Man on Earth in all his Scandinavian glory invokes Bob Dylan with his nonchalant, gravely voice but there is somehow something more...
I honestly can't put my finger on what makes The Wild Hunt my album of the year. It such as shit isn't the production. I guess it isn't the mysticism surrounding a Swede sounding like Bob Dylan and making magical music. I guess It's just the fact that this is an amazing album... I hate to say it, but Nuff' Said.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Totally unrelated, (but kind of related) music post
What makes me excited...
And... (Come on, you knew I would make a post about this eventually)
And... (Come on, you knew I would make a post about this eventually)
A Girl in a Slayer Jacked
3. Girl Talk - All Day
Okay well this is awkward... This is a band (one many show (god above men)) who I've listened since 2006. That said, good God I love Girl Talk. It is really really close to being drugs on music (which only makes sense after listening to Girl Talk). This album is just as amazing as anything he has created before and that is nothing but awesome. You want some Wu Tang Clan beats on top of Radiohead? You've got it! You want Black Sabbath over anything??? Well there you go, it's there. I really wanted to give this the top album of the year, but I just couldn't... So good, but I just couldn't give a mashup the best of...
2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Okay, I just want to point out that I made my top ten mid-December so the fact that this album was the album of the year according to the Grammy's should be irrelevant, but I still feel like I need to point this out... Alright... is that cleared up?? okay?? Good. I have no problem in saying that Arcade Fire's 2004 album, Funeral, is at least to me one of the top 10 albums of the past 15 years. With that out of the way, The Suburbs manages to create a cohesive message of the existence of being from a suburb/small ass town/anywhere. I have found it almost impossible to suggest to my friends and classmates, but in that same breath, the album is not universally suggestible. Yeah, I love it and it is indie heaven, and sure lyrically the album can easily be dwelled on for years to come. But that shouldn't matter... The Suburbs has easily the best one-two combo as far as tracks come since I've been listening to music in The Suburbs and the track Ready to Start.
.
That just isn't fair to such an awesome album so I'll put another track on the blog...
Goofy haircut aside, here's another amazing track off of The Suburbs.
If you don't dig Arcade Fire or Indie in the first place, this is a loss of a post... If you are somewhat intrigued, this just might turn into your album of the year, it's that good.
Okay well this is awkward... This is a band (one many show (god above men)) who I've listened since 2006. That said, good God I love Girl Talk. It is really really close to being drugs on music (which only makes sense after listening to Girl Talk). This album is just as amazing as anything he has created before and that is nothing but awesome. You want some Wu Tang Clan beats on top of Radiohead? You've got it! You want Black Sabbath over anything??? Well there you go, it's there. I really wanted to give this the top album of the year, but I just couldn't... So good, but I just couldn't give a mashup the best of...
2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Okay, I just want to point out that I made my top ten mid-December so the fact that this album was the album of the year according to the Grammy's should be irrelevant, but I still feel like I need to point this out... Alright... is that cleared up?? okay?? Good. I have no problem in saying that Arcade Fire's 2004 album, Funeral, is at least to me one of the top 10 albums of the past 15 years. With that out of the way, The Suburbs manages to create a cohesive message of the existence of being from a suburb/small ass town/anywhere. I have found it almost impossible to suggest to my friends and classmates, but in that same breath, the album is not universally suggestible. Yeah, I love it and it is indie heaven, and sure lyrically the album can easily be dwelled on for years to come. But that shouldn't matter... The Suburbs has easily the best one-two combo as far as tracks come since I've been listening to music in The Suburbs and the track Ready to Start.
.
That just isn't fair to such an awesome album so I'll put another track on the blog...
Goofy haircut aside, here's another amazing track off of The Suburbs.
If you don't dig Arcade Fire or Indie in the first place, this is a loss of a post... If you are somewhat intrigued, this just might turn into your album of the year, it's that good.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Here it is (part 2)
5. Trampled By Turtles - Palomino
I guess it might be the nostalgia from seeing these guys live and the fact that these bastards are from Minnesota, but it's hard to dislike any track from this album. It is easy to say I dig folk when you're from Minnesota because you always have Bob Dylan on your side with that argument, but how do you argue that you dig an indie folk/bluegrass band like Trampled By Turtles? well ,you just man up and say you dig them and put them at number 5 for a top ten of 2010.
4. The National - High Violet
If I could give an award for biggest impact as far as bands go over 2010, The National would win first place without any sort of argument. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I didn't discover The National until mid summer of 2010, but with that said I'm so glad that I managed to listen to them. It's very hard to put a label on them because they aren't quite pop and they aren't indie and they aren't alternative, but they are some sort of amalgamation of them. High Violet isn't as good as Boxer was, but how the fuck could any album stack against Boxer and come out on top? The answer is that it's almost impossible to pull that off and come out on top. This album is a bit more low key than Boxer and I guess it's all up to personal opinion as far as the rating goes. If you thought Boxer was a bit too intense and was lacking in the metaphor department, High Violet very well might be your album of the year... If not, it's the 3rd best album of the year and that's nothing to be ashamed of.
I guess it might be the nostalgia from seeing these guys live and the fact that these bastards are from Minnesota, but it's hard to dislike any track from this album. It is easy to say I dig folk when you're from Minnesota because you always have Bob Dylan on your side with that argument, but how do you argue that you dig an indie folk/bluegrass band like Trampled By Turtles? well ,you just man up and say you dig them and put them at number 5 for a top ten of 2010.
4. The National - High Violet
If I could give an award for biggest impact as far as bands go over 2010, The National would win first place without any sort of argument. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I didn't discover The National until mid summer of 2010, but with that said I'm so glad that I managed to listen to them. It's very hard to put a label on them because they aren't quite pop and they aren't indie and they aren't alternative, but they are some sort of amalgamation of them. High Violet isn't as good as Boxer was, but how the fuck could any album stack against Boxer and come out on top? The answer is that it's almost impossible to pull that off and come out on top. This album is a bit more low key than Boxer and I guess it's all up to personal opinion as far as the rating goes. If you thought Boxer was a bit too intense and was lacking in the metaphor department, High Violet very well might be your album of the year... If not, it's the 3rd best album of the year and that's nothing to be ashamed of.
Here it is
Alright, alright I'm sorry guys about being a bad blogger and promising posts and never delivering. I'm doing this post to make up for that (just a little bit) and I'm going to post my top albums of 2010. I'm sure you're saying, "It's already mid-February, why is Stiche posting a best-of 2010?" Well I'm lazy that's why (and busy, don't forget about busy.)
So Without further adieu, her's my best albums of 2010.
10. Immolation - Majesty and Decay
Alright, I'm not going to lie, this is straight up brutal death metal in it's purest form so if you're not into that, don't click play. With that said, this is one of the most refreshing and straight up bad ass releases I've had the privilege to listen to in quite a while. The riffs are technical to the point of having to question if they actually came from a living, breathing human being and the drumming is out of this world. If you're able to enjoy death metal (and I know it's a hard thing to enjoy and I'm not going to look down on anybody who doesn't like it (because it's that hard to enjoy)), you owe it to yourself to listen to this album.
9. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
I already put this track on the blog a while ago and I still feel that it stand up to the test of time. This album manages to infuse the best of electonica with some solid acid jazz and god knows what the fuck it took to make this music video and somehow Flying Lotus created somewhat of a masterpiece in the genre. The whole album somehow manages to ebb and flow all around the listener, but it's always there and it makes such and impression that one has a hard time imagining what life would be like without such a soundtrack to their daily lives. Yeah, if you even casually watch adult swim you owe it to yourself to get this album because Flying Lotus has been doing the bumps for years.
8. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Yep, it's full of key changes and complete tempo fuck-ups, but that's what makes this release so damn enjoyable. It's mathcore (sort of), but it's also metalcore (the good kind of metalcore), but it's so technical (in a bad ass way), but it's just...... you get the idea. The entire album is all over the place and technical to a fault (but there isn't a fault!) which makes it a difficult listen. There are passages in the album that are so full of melody that it could make any casual Rise Against fan (I'm one of them) bob their head, but in the same breath, the album is so full of chaos and disorder that it's hard to enjoy in one sitting... My suggestion is to listen to this track (below) a few times and just soak it in... Is it soaked in yet??? No??? Alright, listen to it again until you dig it...
7. Deadmau5 - 4x4=12
What can I say about Deadmau5... It's hard to stick up for them after they've (he's??) broke into the mainstream after being one of the DJ's in DJ Hero 2. Fuck it, I'll do my best. Deadmau5 has always been known for having driving, throbbing, technical beats and were for a while known as the king of progressive house. It was in that capacity that I fell in love with Deadmau5. The tracks were ridiculous, bad ass, and they seemed to go on forever (in a good way... (I love minimal electronica) and Deadmau5 fit the bill. This is a whole new beast. 4x4=12 is full of dubstep and god knows what else, but for everything it has, the one thing it lacks is moments of boredom.
6. Kvelertak - Kvelertak
It belongs to a genre known as "black n' roll" so with that in mind, Kvelertak succeeds. The band is from Scandinavia and sings in black metal shrieks, but somehow has rock and roll sensibilities and flows from one genre to another as seamless as a leather jacket. Sure it might be a bit jarring (suck it up), but once you get past as the first sonic boom of awesomeness, it's time to take the songs in one at a time. One of the great things about this album is that the band chose not to (or was unable) to release the album in English so it's all in Norwegian. It adds to the mystery of the band. Are they singing about being a man in today's day and age and having feelings they can't openly express or are they singing about a dragon reigning down upon a helpless village? Who knows? This is the first album I've chose not to look into as far as lyrics go because I really don't care. The album rocks too hard for me to care. 'Nuff said.
Part 2 later...
So Without further adieu, her's my best albums of 2010.
10. Immolation - Majesty and Decay
Alright, I'm not going to lie, this is straight up brutal death metal in it's purest form so if you're not into that, don't click play. With that said, this is one of the most refreshing and straight up bad ass releases I've had the privilege to listen to in quite a while. The riffs are technical to the point of having to question if they actually came from a living, breathing human being and the drumming is out of this world. If you're able to enjoy death metal (and I know it's a hard thing to enjoy and I'm not going to look down on anybody who doesn't like it (because it's that hard to enjoy)), you owe it to yourself to listen to this album.
9. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
I already put this track on the blog a while ago and I still feel that it stand up to the test of time. This album manages to infuse the best of electonica with some solid acid jazz and god knows what the fuck it took to make this music video and somehow Flying Lotus created somewhat of a masterpiece in the genre. The whole album somehow manages to ebb and flow all around the listener, but it's always there and it makes such and impression that one has a hard time imagining what life would be like without such a soundtrack to their daily lives. Yeah, if you even casually watch adult swim you owe it to yourself to get this album because Flying Lotus has been doing the bumps for years.
8. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Yep, it's full of key changes and complete tempo fuck-ups, but that's what makes this release so damn enjoyable. It's mathcore (sort of), but it's also metalcore (the good kind of metalcore), but it's so technical (in a bad ass way), but it's just...... you get the idea. The entire album is all over the place and technical to a fault (but there isn't a fault!) which makes it a difficult listen. There are passages in the album that are so full of melody that it could make any casual Rise Against fan (I'm one of them) bob their head, but in the same breath, the album is so full of chaos and disorder that it's hard to enjoy in one sitting... My suggestion is to listen to this track (below) a few times and just soak it in... Is it soaked in yet??? No??? Alright, listen to it again until you dig it...
7. Deadmau5 - 4x4=12
What can I say about Deadmau5... It's hard to stick up for them after they've (he's??) broke into the mainstream after being one of the DJ's in DJ Hero 2. Fuck it, I'll do my best. Deadmau5 has always been known for having driving, throbbing, technical beats and were for a while known as the king of progressive house. It was in that capacity that I fell in love with Deadmau5. The tracks were ridiculous, bad ass, and they seemed to go on forever (in a good way... (I love minimal electronica) and Deadmau5 fit the bill. This is a whole new beast. 4x4=12 is full of dubstep and god knows what else, but for everything it has, the one thing it lacks is moments of boredom.
6. Kvelertak - Kvelertak
It belongs to a genre known as "black n' roll" so with that in mind, Kvelertak succeeds. The band is from Scandinavia and sings in black metal shrieks, but somehow has rock and roll sensibilities and flows from one genre to another as seamless as a leather jacket. Sure it might be a bit jarring (suck it up), but once you get past as the first sonic boom of awesomeness, it's time to take the songs in one at a time. One of the great things about this album is that the band chose not to (or was unable) to release the album in English so it's all in Norwegian. It adds to the mystery of the band. Are they singing about being a man in today's day and age and having feelings they can't openly express or are they singing about a dragon reigning down upon a helpless village? Who knows? This is the first album I've chose not to look into as far as lyrics go because I really don't care. The album rocks too hard for me to care. 'Nuff said.
Part 2 later...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
My bad
I haven't given up on this bad boy yet, I've just been really really busy with my practicum and haven't had any "Stiche moments" to write about lately. I finish up my practicum on Tuesday so I'm planning on doing a top albums of 2010 list sometime later this week.
In short, the blog isn't dead, I'm just tired/lazy/struggling with ideas lately, but it'll get better.
In short, the blog isn't dead, I'm just tired/lazy/struggling with ideas lately, but it'll get better.
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