Vessels- White Fields and Open Devices
Post rock with beautiful vocals and asymmetrical time signatures? Count me in! Vessels' White Fields and Open Devices is an impressive debut from the british quintet, boasting ten tracks of scorching instrumentals, pop songs, and piano ballads. No song on the album is weak, and no two songs on the record find their merit with the same tricks, making White Fields an extremely well rounded and rewarding listen. It's chock full of gems: "A Hundred Times in Every Direction" and "Yuki" use the delicately gorgeous voice of Tom Evans to create heartwrenching tracks, whereas instrumental burners "Altered Beast" and "An Idle Brain and the Devil's Workshop" are excellently crafted post rock tunes that cut the crap and get to the point for 7 minutes. White Fields and Open Devices is a long record, but it's definitely worth it, so just get it. I mean, how often do you come across a ten song post rock record with no skippable tracks?Lights Out Asia- Eyes Like Brontide
On Eyes Like Bromtide, Lights Out Asia envelops their listeners in a cold dead place, and doesn't release until the final crescendo of "Six Points of Fire." You can't get more gay post rock descriptions, people. Seriously though, all homosexual metaphors aside, Eyes Like Brontide is an extremely entertaining, mesmerizing record. It very much plays to a specific atmosphere, isolating the listener in Lights Out Asia's reverb heavy drum machines and gorgeous piano lines. Chris Schafer's voice, when present, is incredibly strong and always heartbreaking, such as on the album's first full track, "Radars Over the Ghosts of Cherynobl," when one can feel the dejected cynicism in his voice. He alone makes Eyes Like Brontide an impressive release, but Lights Out Asia's consistency propels the record to the top of 2008's post rock heap. In Eyes Like Brontide, Lights Out Asia have created one of the most intense, beautiful, and dare-I-say epic post rock albums of the year. And with song titles like "If I Die, I Wish You A Horrible Death," how can you resist?The Flashbulb- Soundtrack to a Vacant Life
For me, the first word that comes to mind when listening to The Flashbulb's Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is Immense. Thirty some odd tracks of music ranging from hard rock, abrasive electronica, ambient soundscapes, drum solos, gorgeous piano ballads, spanish guitar suites, and whatever else The Flashbulb (aka Benn Jordan) decides to incorporate, Vacant Life commands attention, respect, and above all, admiration. As a bipolar individual, Jordan's album varies in emotions from dark to euphoric to frantic, all the while maintaining a feeling of fluidity. It helps that Jordan's musicianship is ace in all forays from percussion to guitar to electronics, as his expertise is apparent in tracks like "Steel for Pappa", "That Missing Week", and pretty much any other track off the record. Also, the amount of intricacies on this album is mind boggling. Jordan uses samples throughout Soundtrack to provide the key atmospheric element to several points in the record, the most obvious being the death-pondering theory in "Kirlian Voyager". From start to finish, Jordan delivers a record that needs to be heard, and since he pretty much asks you to pirate it (he torrented it himself), what's stopping you from picking it up? Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is an essential release for anyone who likes music.
Also, don't forget the already blogged Pg.Lost- It's Not Me, It's You! and Moving Mountains- Pneuma
Enjoy, bros
