ILM's Top 77 ALBUMS of 2011

the only 'metal' album i heard last year prior to the ILM Metal Poll. It's p good.

xxxp:
It comes with a manifesto on Transcendental Black Metal.

Transcendental Black Metal is a Renihilation, a “No” to the entire array of Negations, which turns to an affirmation of the continuity of all things

prolego-memnon?

I have like zero interest in black metal, apparently. I don't even dislike this, it just is making zero impression on me.

Like, there is no way this album should aurally scan as "beige, forgettable" to me but there you go.

I think the issue I have with a lot of how black metal is constructed/presented is that it's a LOT of effort put into playing what is ultimately a relatively simple song/melody; like on this first track, everything is played on like 32nd notes but it's all subdivision of a really really really simple tune that's not particularly interesting or impressive, so my end reaction is "eh, why bother with all that?"

It's like Dr Bronner meets the Maharishi School of Management.

"eh, why bother with all that?"
mood music? i dunno, why bother with anything?

lol and then they follow up with a big chanty thing, which erupts into another simple tune chopped up into 32nd notes. It's like the musical equivalent of the moment when Scooby-Doo is running in place away from a monster, legs all awhirl and dust and smoke getting kicked up but he's not going anywhere, stretched out over a five minute period.

(structurally this is reminding me of some of the Baltic pieces we did in our last choral concert, only more static)

Decent black metal can be pretty complex, musically speaking - lots of time signature changes etc...

that literal scooby-doo sound effect looped over five minutes would be more "up my alley" than this Liturgy album, but I like this okay too.

why bother with anything?

depressed now

can someone point me in the direction of some Morton Feldmanesque black metal?

I like the intro of Tragic Laurel, it sounds like Philip Glass

http://i.imgur.com/sa2WL.jpg

74. The Joy Formidable — The Big Roar (266 points, seven votes, one first place vote)

P4K: DNP
P&J: 58

Spotify

the song that placed in tracks was way too landfillesque for me - any chance I'll like the album?

This Robag Wruhme album is really nice. Is the name an anagram for something or just German?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Slayer-GodHatesUsAll-WhiteSleeve.jpg/220px-Slayer-GodHatesUsAll-WhiteSleeve.jpg

naughty naughty very naughty

lol so to completely contradict what I just said re: Liturgy, the thing I dug the most about the song that placed on the track countdown was the shoegazy outro; interested to hear if that sensibility runs through other songs on the album

seandalai: I've only heard the Joy Formidable album once, but my guess is that if you didn't like "Whirring," you won't like the album.

My biggest problem with that Liturgy (and most black metal) is the quality of sound. If I'm in a metal mood then I want to listen to it LOUD, but this stuff is best set at like 2 on the volume knob, otherwise its completely blown out.

I didn't vote for Joy Formidable, but it has its moments. It's a crying shame that only Yuck and JF contend in the British hard-rock (non-punk/metal) stakes these days. But where Yuck are hazy and nostalgic, I hear JF as being big and powerful (love that guitar sound). I don't know which nineties rock band I'd be tempted to compare them with - part of me wants to say early Manics without the lyrics. Anyway, the album's got maybe 4 good songs, the rest is a bit forgettable. I still love A Heavy Abacus, particularly that Glastonbury performance.

I should give The Joy Formidable another chance. Didn't love the track we covered at Jukebox but it seems to be one of the consensus picks of indie rock this year.

I haven't heard any of these... The Joy Formidable tracks on the poll were alright I suppose. I also remembered that they were on Conan one night last year.

I really like the Joy Formidable's huge walls of screeching guitars but the songs themselves I can take or leave. Surprised that album wasn't higher, I thought they had a committed following on here.

Is it weird that the first song at least is coming across to me like a harder-edge School of Seven Bells?

love the last track on the joy formidable album a lot

http://youtu.be/84yRe--OJ00

Joy Formidable remind me of that era between Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie when the Pumpkins were still figuring out just how big of an arena band they wanted to become.

JF and liturgy both on my ballot :D

love that liturgy album.

I think the issue I have with a lot of how black metal is constructed/presented is that it's a LOT of effort put into playing what is ultimately a relatively simple song/melody; like on this first track, everything is played on like 32nd notes but it's all subdivision of a really really really simple tune that's not particularly interesting or impressive, so my end reaction is "eh, why bother with all that?"

what's wrong with a simple melody/progression? it's all about execution, and the major chords + huge wash of sound guitars + the rubato-but-still-in-tempo drumming approach really works for me.

another album that's good in small doses.

is "generation" the long instrumental one that's kind of more math-rock than metal? that's my favorite one. love this album.
xpost about liturgy but i love the joy formidable album too. really good guitars.

I have a feeling JF will go supernova on their next album - what's to stop them?

though i wish the joy formidable album didn't have the one song where the dude sings. it's really boring and i don't know why they bothered.

Re: The Joy Formidable
The four songs reprised from the 2009's A Balloon Called Moaning EP were sharper in their "original" version. The album production veers too far into stadium-rock for its own good.

Still TJF captures an early 90's sound like few bands since. Think Tanya Donelly of Belly fronting gazy lads like Swervedriver. Pure nostalgia treat for me.

I saw Joy Formidable live in 2010. They weren't for me, and what I've heard by them since has confirmed this several times over.

they need to replace all that guitar work with keane style pianos

The four songs reprised from the 2009's A Balloon Called Moaning EP were sharper in their "original" version.

maybe it's because i heard the album before the ep but i don't agree with this at all, would much rather hear the album versions which are humongous. "whirring" esp. on the ep just seems like a rough draft to me.

Joy Formidable still suffers from a bit of a marketing problem, I think -- terrible band name, overzealous inane tweeting (imo), not mysterious enough --> can add up to "blah" for some people. Still, I like their sound and I think Ritzy has a lovely voice well suited for this type of music.

is "generation" the long instrumental one that's kind of more math-rock than metal? that's my favorite one. love this album.
xpost about liturgy but i love the joy formidable album too. really good guitars.

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, January 30, 2012 12:15 PM (39 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm even the non-metal ppl should listen to "generation" because you'll either love it or be driven insane by it.

is "generation" the long instrumental one that's kind of more math-rock than metal? that's my favorite one

yeah it's definitely the high point, even though it's a one-off and not really "what they do". so good.

btw i know i can't complain since i ignored all the nominations stuff, but i'm pretty sure none of my favorite albums from this year were even nominated (except for liturgy).

imo the drummer is the star on that Liturgy record

is "generation" the long instrumental one that's kind of more math-rock than metal? that's my favorite one. love this album.
xpost about liturgy but i love the joy formidable album too. really good guitars.

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, January 30, 2012 12:15 PM (39 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm even the non-metal ppl should listen to "generation" because you'll either love it or be driven insane by it.

― call all destroyer, Monday, January 30, 2012 5:18 PM (55 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Happen to be listening to this now and it's not bad at all...the rest of the album (so far) is interesting enough but exhausting for my ears.

Is the name an anagram for something or just German?

― jaymc, Monday, January 30, 2012

Robag's real name is Gabor

what's wrong with a simple melody/progression? it's all about execution, and the major chords + huge wash of sound guitars + the rubato-but-still-in-tempo drumming approach really works for me.

That's great! The thing is, you glossed over the more important "not particularly interesting or impressive" qualifier to focus somewhat unfairly on the "really simple tune" part. I'm not convinced by the presentation more than anything else.

btw listening to "Generation" right now and already from the get-go this is way more my type of thing

Not really that taken with robag as a producer, though he can be a great DJ. LP passed me by

granted i dont listen to a lot of metal, but the speed at which he hits the snare drum in that first song just blows my mind

also: Ritzy = Oh so cuet.

Sorry, Liturgy is reminding me of Monty Python's "Death of Mary Queen of Scots" sketch.

BANG WALLOP RATTLE SCREECH
"ah think she's deid"
"no i'm not"
BANG WALLOP RATTLE SCREECH