22 - Flux (2010)

Panic! At the Disco are a fun and catchy, yet sentimental and consistently grabbing band. Meshuggah are the near antithesis of everything previously mentioned: dark and heavy, but still (ball)grabbing, and with their own brutal, manmade representation of what evil can sound like. Understand me when I (and many internet goers) describe this band as "Panic! meets Meshuggah." There's an inherent energy here: in both the singer's voice and his phrasing, the guitar and bass lines (and their near-constant duel for the limelight), the syncopated hand patterns of the drummer, and the absolutely driving and pulsing rhythms created by all of it together; but what really makes me love this band is the weird knack they have for seeming both robotic (those rhythms) and absolutely human (that vocalist). While they never, ever reach evil status, the sound that 22 create dabbles equally in the netherworldly, effectively creating some kind of spiritual experience... or at least that's what they seem to be going for. I'll buy it.

Note: Physical copies of anything by this band are nigh impossible to find for the time being. Rest assured, this rip sounds absolutely fine, and will work in any (i.e., most) media player, including iTunes (as it is Apple's native format). V0 will be up... soon.

@Avg. 261 AAC (.m4a)

Colour - Anthology (2009)

This band is like a really fun, math pop version of '80s-era King Crimson: wicked instrumentation with some occasional noodling, love-it-or-hate-it vocals with some (also occasionally) really, really nice moments, and an inconsistent player roster (though, in this case, just the bassist(s) and drummer(s)). The guitarists also have that Minus the Bear-esque "I only tap" thing working absolute wonders for them, and you've got to dig that filthy bass tone (see: "Jewels Like Fairy Lights").

I don't have any particular love for this band, but they have their (very awesome) moments, and they fit into their niche well enough (while doing their own thing) that I could never not post them here.

@V0: Part 1 & Part 2

Homesick for Space - Discography (2001-2010)

So I'm back (at least for a little while), and rather than start off on a baller-ass note, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post something a bit (i.e., much) more melancholic and definitely meant for cooler months: Homesick for Space. Don't ignore their name, as even upon that stepping stone to the band's career, they touched on the single, inbetween emotion that would permeate their entire catalog: a longing (homesickness) for some space that can't quite be grasped. This stuff is horribly, awfully and terribly congruous to how I feel on my least-sober days following a not-quite-mutual breakup, and I've got an inkling that that might be a close heir to the headspace these guys were in as they wrote and recorded these three albums.

Note: Not for birthdays, congratulatory celebrations, or getting into that really cute and bubbly girl's pants.

2001 - Homesick for Space @V0

2003 - Unison @V0

2010 - All We Are Now (or, 2007's ...Please Continue renamed and physically issued) @V0

Kaddisfly - Discography (2002-2007)

I love this band. I really fucking adore this band. My inner eight year-old suddenly bursts forth in a frenzy of adventurous glee and seafaring surmise every time I spin Set Sail the Prairie; and whenever I hear Buy Our Intention..., a slightly younger conjectured child shows himself still, with that same gleeful expression eclipsing his face, but now with a newfound sense of green-thumbed innocence. Kaddisfly, to me, are a denouement, wrought from the idea that music can possess its own spirit, with no fear of undending ambition.

However pretentious and schoolgirl-like I may sound, Kaddisfly are the only band that, after years of listening and loving, still incite me to explore their wondrous world.

2002 - Humania @192

2003 - Did You Know People Can Fly? @192

2005 - Buy Our Intention; We'll Buy You a Unicorn @V0: Part 1 & Part 2

2006 - The Four Seasons @V2

Note: Apparently I don't know how to properly zip albums with the words "sail" or "prairie" in them, so the posting of this band's most recent opus has been delayed by way of God paying me back for all those nights of faking altruism to impress women. --But I'm not taking "Discography (2002-2007)" out of this post's title because I'm laz--I mean, because for some reason I can't. Yes, Blogger is the only one to blame here.

The Protomen - The Protomen (2005)

Here's another band that seems to have been quietly brushed under someone's "Welcome Home" mat, at least in the non-video game communities. The Protomen is a concept album about, what else, Mega Man, with a slightly different - and darker - take on the story. From the first minute of the first track, the storytelling is goosebump-worthy and the 8-bit synths are much more hook-laden than they should be, and, slowly-but-surely, you learn that the lead-singer's got pipes that would make World 7 blush. But what really pushes this album past the finish line is the atmosphere. I can totally picture pallid buildings, decayed at the base and sprawled to few-and-far between, throughout this entire album. I can see Megaman, disenchanted with humanity, leaving its people behind as they writhe in agony. I've never been one to pay a terrible amount of attention to lyrics, but this album absolutely demands that extra effort.

@V0