Bark Psychosis - Hex (1994)

I've been meaning to post for a while, but I'm convinced Mediafire hates me because it never works. So I'm using Megaupload for now.

I know I've put enough post-rock on here but this is too good not to share. It was actually a review for this that coined the term "post-rock" and is considered very influential to the genre along with Talk Talk's last two albums. This is often compared especially to Talk Talk's Laughing Stock (which is one of my all-time favourites) but to me this is definitely more melancholic and atmospheric. Something tells me you'll really dig this.

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Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit (2010)

Each new album Agalloch releases seems to sound completely different than anyone was expecting. So it makes sense that with Marrow of the Spirit they’ve decided to do a lot of things they’ve never done before.

First off, this is definitely their heaviest album to date. Into the Painted Grey starts off with guns blazing, blast beats and tremolo riffs a plenty. It’s black metal Agalloch style, and they do it beautifully. Secondly, they’ve actually taken a step back from their work so far and actually incorporated some familiar sounds from their earlier albums. The acoustic strumming from The Mantle is all over The Watcher’s Monolith, and we have some Pale Folklore-ish electric guitar picking on Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires. For a band that has constantly changed their sound from album to album, I think that’s pretty cool.

I don’t know if this is better than The Mantle or Ashes, but it certainly comes close. The fact that they’re still putting out the best metal music out there and have been doing so for more than ten years is just awesome, and from this it doesn’t look like they plan on stopping. See you in London boys.

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Slint - Spiderland (1991)

I first listened to this album nearly a year ago, and since then I've only listened to it maybe half a dozen times. It wasn't until listening to it today that it finally hit me how genius this album is. Spiderland was released in 1991, but feels so ahead of its time. It was extremely influential to both the math rock and post-rock genres and is considered by many to be an indie rock classic.

My favourite song here is "Washer" which is the only song that grabbed me upon first listening. As an album associated with the post-rock genre, I expected it to sound more like the genre does today. Sad, reverb-drenched guitars, huge crescendos, the like. Instead, this sounds like nothing I've heard before. The vocals for the most part are spoken-word, with some fragile singing and even some semi-harsh vocals on "Nosferatu Man." The album also has a short running time of 39 minutes, which is also a plus for me. Sometimes the best albums are the ones that don't take an hour or more to make their point, leaving you wanting more.

Wow my reviews are long now.

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Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You (2001)

This wasn't really what I was expecting, but it is slowly growing on me. I discovered it when I saw it was ranked really high on my RYM top albums list as rated by my friends (#11 to be exact). Personally I think the post-hardcore tag is kind of a misnomer, as their isn't much hardcore to be found here at all. I'd say it is more like dark, depressing indie rock while still being quite a bit livelier than slowcore. Don't expect it to hit you right away, but it really is great.

Preview: "Treachery"

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Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991)

One of my all-time favourites. The whole album takes me places, but New Grass especially is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

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Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it In People (2002)

One of my favourite indie rock albums. "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year Old Girl" followed by "Cause = Time" are two of the best back-to-back songs I've heard on any album.

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Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I (2007)

Electronic meets modern classical. A "glitch orchestra" as I've heard someone describe it. Great night music.

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Boris

Well, here's a whole whack of Boris for ya. As you probably already know, their discography is pretty big, but I think this covers the essentials. You get the best of their dronier stuff (Amplifier Worship, Flood, and Feedbacker), their stoner rock stuff (Heavy Rocks, Akuma no Uta, and Pink) and their psychedelic stuff (Rainbow and Smile). Hope you enjoy it.

1998 - Amplifier Worship

2000 - Flood

2002 - Heavy Rocks

2003 - Akuma no Uta

2003 - Boris at Last -Feedbacker-

2005 - Pink

2007 - Rainbow (w/ Michio Kurihara)

2008 - Smile (US Version)