This week for me has been dominated by the ambient new age drone metal of 'Asanas Ritual, Vol. 1' which was created for actual use in a yoga studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to this, they had made mixtapes of other sounds but decided to get their friends together and make original musicks to coordinate yoga to. Although I don't do yoga, I can verify that this musick is incredibly involving and healing on many vibrational frequencies and is good at any time of day, whatever you might be up to. I have used it late at night to trance out as well as during the day to load the dishwasher. It always makes me feel better. Despite their logo and imagery, it actually sounds very little like SUNN 0))), although certainly drawing upon both their works and the works of Earth, but having a more improv/new age/free jazz kind of modality. So highly recommended.
Available HERE: http://blackyoga.bandcamp.com/
2) Paradise Lost - 'One Second' (1996)
As of late, I have been jamming out to old Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride albums because of the encroaching Solstice. So far, I have been returning to PL's 'One Second' as it is a frozen tower of unsurpassed Arena-Goth Para-Metal. I wish they had been able to fill stadiums in the U.S. like they did in Europe because this demands the full-scale weight of sing-along banner and running eyeshadow. I am one of those people who love Paradise Lost's output from 'Lost Paradise' to 'Gothic' to 'Shades of God' so so very much but is still way bored by 'Icon' and 'Draconian Times' and so really really dig their turn to full-on Goth Theatrics and Nick Holmes' jettisoning (even temporarily) of the post-Hetfield bark in favor of getting his Andrew Eldritch on. This is still at least kind of a metal album and seems concerned with an S&M vampire/serial killer couples therapy session or something, I can't really tell. I wish I had had a copy of this in 1996.
3) Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)
Dub-metal-goth-disco-punk is the best. If the void is yawning, why not allow burning cities to collapse into its maw? This is like U2 to me.
4) Ramleh - 'Circular Time' (2015)
The fact that there is a new Ramleh album readily available in 2015 and that it is a monsterpiece of overdriven hippie-delic psych-trance jamz is nothing short of totally astounding. More meditative than blown-apart, but this will do the job for sure. I am so very happy.
Available HERE: https://crucialblast.bandcamp.com/album/circular-time
5) Candlemass - 'Tales of Creation' (1989)
My favorite old-school Candlemass album for sure. An incredible achievement of 1980's doom, glorious and shining and majestic. This is something I am in awe of. I love 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' and 'Nightfall' and 'Ancient Dreams' and all, but for me this is where it all comes together into something where I really feel I understand what is going on.
Bonus Entry:
'Fargo Season 2' (2015)
I didn't get 'Fargo Season 1' and turned it off after a couple of episodes. I was living in the Twin Cities at the time and felt like this was sloppy Upper Midwest-sploitation and kind of mean-spirited in tone so I left it alone. This year my partner and I decided to give it another shot and it is super-great. The entire cast is amazing, it creates a cohesive narrative which is structurally suspenseful and simultaneously fulfills and deviates from audience expectation. Satisfying on every level. Plus: Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan in 1979 which I never knew I wanted but now can't live without. Also, this is probably Kirsten Dunst's best performance for something which is not 'Melancholia'. Moreover, Bokeem Woodbine's Mike Milligan is my favorite character now on TV. I would watch an entire spinoff show about that dude if anyone is reading this who can effect that please do so!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment