A non-committal list of albums released in 2009 that I really enjoyed lots (now with pictures 'n shit)

picture also unrelated

Because you know, it's hard for me and a huge emotional confrontation to rank albums because it feels like they are living humans and I don't have the right to tell them that maybe some other album is better or more loved, it would cause lasting damage to their faith in humanity and I would feel really wretched if I did that.

Creature with the Atom Brain - Transylvania

Great and very groovy psychedelic rock that makes Belgium sound like the new San Francisco.
Probably posted shortly.

Martyrdöd - Sekt
Swedish blackened crust, gloriously driving, nihilistic monotony and filth.
Previous album posted here.

Geïst - Galeere
Nautical-themed atmo-black metal album that has been shockingly underrated.
Previous album posted here.

Antony and the Johnsons - The crying light
Unique voice, unique music. I would gladly give up gender certainty for such a voice.
Previous album posted here.

The Urgency - The urgency
Indie rock barely touching on punk energy, the result is criminally catchy.
Probably posted shortly.

Skagos - Ást
Sublime Canadian atmospheric black metal with apparently some left-wing sympathies.
Posted shortly.

Sólstafir - Köld
She destrooooooooys againnnnnnn!! As good as the previous album,
which you can find here.

Rome - Flowers from exile
Best neofolk-ish stuff I heard since Spiritual Front.
Posted in the longer term.

The Cavalcade - Meet you in the rain
Just a five-track twee folk EP but SO captivating!
Posted shortly.

Alcest & Les Discrets - Split
Fine appetiser, especially the Les Discrets part is amazing.
Earlier material by both here (LD), here and here (A).

Austere - To lay like old ashes
Visionary band daringly taking suicidal black metal into new territory.
Posted shortly.

The Exploding Boy - Afterglow
Anachronistic neo-postpunk goodness from Sverige.
Posted shortly.

Powerwolf - Bible of the beast
Campy yet strong power metal with superb vocals.
Earlier album will be posted shortly.

It May Never End - Such is life
Unknown Aussie group, but best post-rock album I've heard all year.
Posted in the longer term.

Der Blaue Reiter - Nuclear Sun
Intriguing, mysterious, distressing martial ambient.
May feature some time or another, or it may not.

VNV Nation - Of faith, power and glory
Once more with feeling: Great and thoughtful EBM/synthpop champions.
Earlier album posted here.

Panopticon - Collapse
Anarcho-black metal guru Lundr proves himself once more. Old gods, no masters! (?)
Posted here on a blog you should be visiting anyway.

Miserere Luminis - Miserere luminis
Collaboration between Gris and Sombres Forêts, luckily the Gris influences win out.
Gris album can be found here.

Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
"Amesoeurs is dead", not with a whimper, with a bang.
Demo and split here.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The pains of being pure at heart
They'll have you gazing at your shoes through tears of joyful misery.
The proof can be found here.

Sólstafir - Masterpiece of Bitterness

Genre(s) - (Post-)black metal
Origin - Iceland
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 62.78 MB

Iceland! There are many more black metal bands from there than its quickly dwindling number of inhabitants would warrant, but only a handful seem to be actually worth the effort of tracking them down. Sólstafir are one from the latter category, a progressive black metal band with a lot of influences from hardcore, sludge and post-rock. They come across as quite intellectual to me, yet not by far as elitist as most regular bands in the genre. Masterpiece of Bitterness strangely starts off with the main course, an oddly-titled twenty-minute long opus that almost (almost!) makes the rest of the album obsolete. It showcases some dazzlingly expansive atmospheres, made possible in large part by some seriously gnarly, indignantly groaning bass work offsetting the resounding glimmer of the guitars. It's a song, a real bitter masterpiece, in which you can really lose yourself for its entire duration and you may not even need drugs for it - though of course I generally recommend drug use to everybody.

1. I myself the visionary head
2. Nature strutter
3. Bloodsoaked velvet
4. Lux fare
5. Ghosts of light
6. Ritual of fire
7. Náttfari
   

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Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now

Genre(s) - Chamber pop
Origin - Ireland/UK
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 48.23 MB

I like to think all music I post is special for some reason or another, but here's a group that is really quite unlike anything else that I know. The Johnsons play some extremely timeless romantic music that sounds like it belongs in an exclusive nightclub somewhere in the twenties or thirties. The star of the show is the enigmatic Antony Hegarty, with his magical, lilting one-of-a-kind voice that just suits the music so wonderfully. He is also the one laying down the plaintive, desolate piano tones, the music's main ingredient, supported by an understated bass and drums combo and sometimes a bit of brass and violin, lifting for instance Fistful of Love up to be the album's high point. While the melodies themselves are not usually so sad, the music is clearly intended for lonely nights of wistful yearning more than to spice up a party with. Well, I've tested, and it works: there is some fine nightly yearning to be had with Bird Now on.

1. Hope there's someone
2. My lady story
3. For today I am a boy
4. Man is the baby
5. You are my sister
6. What can I do?
7. Fistful of love
8. Spiralling
9. Free at last
10. Bird gehrl
    

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Bedhead - Transaction de novo

Genre(s) - Slowcore/post-rock
Origin - Texas, USA
Year of release - 1998
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 33.84 MB

The aptly titled band Bedhead were an indie rock band who created calm, drowsy, squeaky-clean music with three guitars and a bass, which sounds like it should be listened to after a long hot shower and just before laying down your tired body on the hard, stained but warmly inviting mattress. Throughout their career, their music took on more and more body, some degree of distortion, and intra-track progress and these slowcore-pioneers floated into post-rock territory at a more than leisurely pace. Even with Transaction de Novo, their final album, they still exhibit a rare and deliberate holding back, never falling for useless pomp. It makes Bedhead an excellent band to spend those warm last waking moments of your day on.

1. Exhume
2. More than ever
3. Parade
4. Half-thought
5. Extramundane
6. Forgetting
7. Lepidoptera
8. Psychosomatica
9. The present
   

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[Repost] Skambankt - Eliksir

Genre(s) - Punk, hard rock
Origin - Norway
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 320 kbps
Size - 86.22 MB

[Repost because I remembered that the RAR file of this one was corrupt, or the songs skipping or somesuch. Enjoy now, undamaged and in much higher bitrate. Despite my somewhat inane review this really is a punch in the face of glorious punk rock anthems with a sound and approach entirely Skambankt's own. Worth every punk enthusiast's attention.]

Still combining the sounds of old-school punk and old-school hardrock, this album is more in the direction of old-school hard punking rock rather than old-school hard rocking punk, as the previous, equally-awesome self-titled album could be classified. And all in Norwegian! Just think how awesome this world could have been if crappy BM bands like Gorgoroth, Burzum, Mayhem or Satyricon never started playing black metal but played punk instead! Indeed; it would have been super duper awesome! That's why you have to download this album.

1. Intro
2. Nok et offer
3. Dynasti
4. Stormkast #1
5. Tyster
6. Ordets gud
7. Min eliksir
8. Siste stikk
9. Fritt fall
10. Angst
11. Idyllillusionen
12. Bak låste dører
    

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Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes

Genre(s) - (kind of melodic doomy death??) - Metal!!
Origin - Finland
Year of release - 1994
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 36.20 MB

What a weird release Thousand Lakes is. I don't know, but the mix sounds all weird, really hollow, and with synths whose tone can only be described as weird. Or is it just me? For some reason however, I've always held on to this album and I couldn't face my conscience if I were to say it was bad. It has a quite relaxed overall feeling, with many pleasant and classic melodies that captured a lot of people (at least I know here in Holland Amorphis were universally well-liked and highly esteemed, especially this album). Personal favourites are the threesome of First Doom, Black Winter Day and Drowned Maid, sporting the best harmonies. In constrast to most later work, it's all rather simple in construction (esp. the drums are extremely basic) and too neutral in mood for my tastes, but somehow this has that kind of charm that leaves few people unaffected. But yeah, it sounds kinda weird.

1. Thousand lakes
2. Into hiding
3. The castaway
4. First doom
   
5. Black winter day
6. Drowned maid
7. In the beginning
8. Forgotten sunrise
9. To father's cabin
10. Magic and mayhem
    

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Class Pride World Wide vol. 3

Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 80.22 MB

And some more... all thanks to wonderful Canadian label Insurgence Records.

1. Union Made (can) - Products
   
2. Nuts & Bolts (usa) - Corruption
   
3. Loikaemie (de) - Good night white pride
   
4. Discipline (nl) - Red and white army
   
5. Runnin' Riot (ire) - Lost generation
   
6. Street Terror (pol) - Nigdy nie bedziesz szedi sam
   
7. Spit on Your Grave (usa) - So far past sick
   
8. Cervelli Stanki (ita) - Figli della klasse operala
   
9. Boiler (hun) - Formas popsi, szep szemek
   
10. Fear City (usa) - FSC anthem
    
11. Freiboiter (de) - Schöne neue Welt
    
12. Esclaves Salaries (can) - Ils ne passeront pas
    
13. Curasbun (chl) - Cerveza
    
14. Death in Custody (usa) - Pissed off and broke
    
15. Bayonets (yug) - Our fight
    
16. Puntas de Acero (arg) - Clase obrera
    
17. Borderguards (can) - Independent
    
18. United Front (uk) - Vengeance
    
19. Anger Flares (jap) - Search for the light
    
20. Hard Skin (uk) - Skin hard
    
21. S-Contro (ita) - La mia storia
    
22. Razor Bois (rus) - Burned discos
    

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Class Pride World Wide vol. 2

Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 55.46 MB

More antifascist and left-wing oi!, streetpunk, hardcore and ska from all over the globe. Life is beautiful.

1. The Prowlers (can) - We come out first
2. Social Combat (esp) - Our enemy
3. Red Alert (uk) - Million dollar punx
4. Nogood Heroes (usa) - Populist
5. The Class Assassins (can) - For the kids
6. Pub All Stars (arg) - Radio 69
   
7. Bolchoi (fra) - Gueules cassées
   
8. Fuori Controllo (ita) - Aggro on the streets
   
9. The Analogs (pol) - Blask szminki
   
10. Fate 2 Fate (can) - Fight for yourself
    
11. Jonny Gerriwelt (eus) - Freedom words
    
12. Signal 3 (usa) - Spirit of rebellion
    
13. Garotos Podres (bra) - Garoto podre
    
14. The Protest (cze) - Tri postavy
    
15. Frontkick (de) - Danger
    
16. Razzaparte (ita) - Noi ci siamo ancora
    
17. Wildcate Strike (swe) - Ar det demokrati?
    
18. Sick Sick Six (prt) - Quantos de voces
    
19. Charge 69 (fra) - Casse-toi
    
20. Fighting Chance (usa) - Coward's pride
    
21. Angelic Upstarts (uk) - Machine gun Chelly (live)
    

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[Repost] Class Pride World Wide vol. 1

Genre(s) - Oi!, punk, ska
Origin - all over the world
Year of release - 2001
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 51.46

[Had this one up for a while but it is only the first out of a series of three compilations and why not post them all together?]

For those still believing that the term skinhead is synonymous with neo-nazi, here's the final solid proof that this is a total misconception. The first compilation of a series of three released by the antifascist Insurgence Records presents us with 19 bands mostly from the SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice) and RASH (Red and Anarchist SkinHeads) scene. Not a skinhead myself - full head of hair here - I'm nonetheless fascinated by their subculture and praise their class consciousness. Their music is awesome too, this isn't the first oi! release I'm posting here. Street Troopers, Brigada Flores Magon and Los Fastidios deliver some of the best tracks on the disc but it's full of sometimes catchy, sometimes angry songs about working class life, beating up nazis and other fun, important subjects.

1. Street Troopers (can) - Don't let 'em win
2. Stage Bottles (de) - Dead but not forgiven
3. Reazione (ita) - Forse un giorno vincera!
4. Worker (usa) - Betrayed
5. Remences (esp) - Sota control
6. The Oppressed (uk) - Substitute
7. Brigada Flores Magon (fra) - Continente olvidado
8. FFD (ita) - Proletario
9. H-Block 101 (aus) - Aunty Pauline
10. Klasse Kriminale (ita) - I ragazzi sono innocenti
11. Scrapy (de) - Still standing
12. Blastcaps (can) - Shining light
13. Pinkerton Thugs (usa) - Propaganda by the deed
14. Opcio K-95 (esp) - Skinhead only red
15. Los Fastidios (ita) - S-H-A-R-P
16. Fermin Muguruza (eus) - Newroz
17. Les Partisans (fra) - Radio rebelle
18. Blaggers ITA (uk) - 1949
19. Ya Basta (fra) - Chiapas

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Mediæval Bæbes - Mirabilis

Genre(s) - Ethereal, neo-classical
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 320 kbps
Size - 80.91 MB

My hopes for a true winter are being fulfilled: it hasn't snowed like this for years! I've been trudging through Leiden's monumental 17th-century city centre for a few hours today and it was a more beautiful sight even than usual. Music to go well with weather (and towns) like this is swirly gothic or ethereal, and the Mediæval Bæbes deal in a very neo-classical version of it that suits the name well, as does the fact that it is an all-women band. With various acoustic and old-timey instruments like (f)lutes, harps, percussion and (I believe) all of their voices they create wonderful music that seems to be made for snowy days' candlelit evenings, and especially these days around Yuletide. I have a large and equal fondness for all the seasons; I love winter for its magical dreaminess and I have a feeling many of my posts will be reflecting this. Already a lot of the previous ones do, and of course this one too. Enjoy, if you feel the same way. :)

1. Star of the sea
2. Trovommi amor
3. Temptasyon
4. San'c fuy belha ni prezada
5. All for the love of one
6. The lament
7. Musa venit carmine
8. Kilmeny
9. Umlahi
10. Cittern segue
11. Return of the birds
12. Tam Lin
13. Scarborough Fayre
14. Come my sweet
15. Mark hur var skugga
16. The world fareth as a fantasye
17. Away
    

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A Beautiful Machine - Solar Winds, White Noise, Antigravity

Genre(s) - Post-spacegaze
Origin - Australia
Year of release - 2000
Bitrate - Various
Size - 70.45 MB

An early, and unfortunately still inexplicably unknown post-rock band, whose music is considered to be built up from space rock and shoegaze elements. The latter are a lot more obvious, I think. The space rock aspect can be most clearly noted in the worked-open structures and spaciousness and universal (non-personal) overtones, but then those feautures are applicable to most regular post-rock bands as well. But common sense tells us not to give a crap about genres, so just give it a listen if you like expansive, mind-bending soundscapes that glow with all the colours of a stellar nebula. A Beautiful Machine will be happy to show you around.

All material by this band can be downloaded officially for free from archive.org, here.

1. Entwine
2. Shining
3. Sometimes
4. Glow
5. The sound of her wings
6. Follow mine
7. Breathe in space
8. Coming up...
9. ...Again
   

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Toil - Obscure Chasms

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 96 kbps
Size - 28.52 MB

Toil are an American underground raw black metal project and this is the first and only full-length. Main dude seems quite active in the scene, with many (guest) positions in different bands and projects, among which Vrolok, Funeral Mourning and Nox Inferi. Obscure Chasms is marred by a thin sound and low volume, for which the bitrate isn't solely to blame, but this in turn generates a mystic, hazy sound that suits the band's style well. I'm posting this album for the sake of Mistress of the Deep (Part 1) which really hits home with its intricate, obscenely depressing guitar lines. This exercise is repeated in a much more monotonous way and to less effect on Desolate Reflection. The rest really can't flop my mop but I'm sure plenty of you will have a use for this lo-fi, murky and moody black metal album.

1. Obscure chasms
2. Within the damp earth
3. Mistress of the deep (part 1)
4. Mistress of the deep (part 2)
5. Ashen sky
6. Dead leaves
7. Desolate reflection
   

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