Amph What Album Did You Just Hear?

Why are you always shouting?



The Contortionist, Language (2014)

The Contortionist are a progressive metal band from Indianapolis who, on their third effort, have really hit their stride in terms of their songwriting craft and sound. Whereas the first two albums were interesting deathcore efforts, Language is a more spacious, sometimes dreamy, and othertimes post-metallic effort that dips and soars through the 9 tracks.

What works so well for this album, which sits in an increasingly busy subgenre of progressive metal, is the use of subtle spaces. There's a moment in the first single, Language I: Intuition where one of the guitarists taps out a major scale at the end of a bar:

Tuning: Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb


|---------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------h5--------|
|------------------t7/9p4t11p4----------|
|------------t9p2h4---------------------|
|---t10p2h3h5-------------------t10\9---|
|---------------------------------------|

|---------------------------------------|

Conventional genre wisdom suggests that they would continue this tapping riff, but they don't. it does pop up once more in the rhythm guitar parts, layered under a lead guitar piece, but you expect it more often and it's refreshing that you don't get it.

This is also the first album with new vocalist Michael Lessard, formerly of the band Last Chance to Reason. He does a lot of clean vocals and he's got an amazing voice.

My album of the year. 4.5/5 "mics".

 

Ender Sai

If you keep bugging me about shouting I am getting in touch with the Administrator of this site and reporting you. That last post I did put Capital Letters to emphasize the greatness that was "SHANNON HOON" and how much he is missed in the music world. The time you questioned me before that I was not using Capitals I was using bold Letters, that is not generally called shouting....

and Immature I am 33 years old I think I am too old for this kind of stuff.

 

Reporting him for what?

 

@harpua he keeps harassing me about My Grammar and Shouting because he thinks I am using all Capitals which most of the time I am not, I am using Bold. It just gets a little buggy after a while.

I am 33 years old I am getting a little to old for this kind of thing, kind of Immature don't you think?

 

So, you're going to report him for asking you a question? Look, you seem like a nice enough person, so I'm going to give you a little friendly advice... get to know the community you're posting in, instead of showing up and expecting everybody to act the way you think they should. We generally rib each other... that's us. If you report somebody every single time they say something you don't like, it's probably going to get old really fast. Just hang out for a bit and get a feel for the place. This community is one of the oldest online... been around since 1998. It's a fun place, generally. Try to relax a little and try not to take everything so personally.

 

Please don't abuse the report function - sincerely, the administrator of this site.

Anyway,

Symphony for Improvisers - Don Cherry (1966).

I've heard Cherry as a sideman for some other artists (Mostly Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler), but this is the first album of his I've listened to where he's a band leader. He definitely takes a lot of cues from Coleman in terms of overarching structure here (My mind immediately goes to "Free Jazz with a piccolo" - a consequence of Ed Blackwell playing drums on both, perhaps?) but it's an enjoyable listen.

Balance - Joe Morris Quartet (2014).

I was a little skeptical on the first track, because this album starts off soft and you very quickly become aware of a total lack of wind instruments, but come track two everybody kicks it into high gear and you barely even miss the saxophones. For me, that's saying something, because I'm about as big of a sax fan as you can be while still being a dorky guy who played tuba for almost a decade. Might just be my album of the year - this or the last Opeth release, in any case. Sorry Varg.

 

@harpua he is Harassing me not asking a question there is a big difference. You know, I have been posting on here since June 24 2014, I mostly stick to the Episode 7 Spoiler Forum and most people on there are real nice to me on there, there was one guy that starting harassing me but EHT Told me if the problem persists put him on ignore. the problem is when I occasionally come over to this part of the Forum Almost everyone attacks me and I don't quite get it only on the JC Community Forum. so what am I supposed to do put everyone that Harasses me on ignore?

 

Well you do seem to randomly capitalize words within sentences. Is English your first language?

 

There you go.

The community forum is much older than the Ep 7 forum, and we have a different flavor. Again... take a while to get a feel for the place. If it isn't your cup of tea, it isn't your cup of tea. You can't just show up and expect us to cater to you, that's all I'm saying.

 

@Boba_Fett_2001

He is talking about when I put my post in bold, he obviously doesn't know the Difference between Bold and Capitals, and even if what you say is true how is the mature thing to pick on someone's Grammar or typing skills. with me it is mostly a typing thing, I clumsily one finger type. we are all adults on here, like I said I am 33 years old lets all make a concerted effort to act civil to one another

 

See my above post.

 

Buena Vista Social Club, Chan Chan

Great Album I am listening to the Live Album that was recorded at Carnegie Hall,
Buena Vista means, Great View in Spanish, they are An Afro Cuban music Group .....

 

Great album, film, concert etc. -- the best! The performance of 'Candela' is amazing.



I listened to 'Diary of a Madman' by Ozzy Osbourne while cleaning the kitchen. Then I listened to it again for all its cheesy thrills.

 

I got a Spotify account because there was a deal where I get three months of premium for a dollar. My jazz consumption has gone into hyperdrive.

So, running down the line:

Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe - Albert Ayler (1969).

An interesting combination of Ayler's usual march/free mixture with some kind of hokey lyrics. I dug it, but it's not something I'd recommend to genre newcomers, and in the grand scheme of things is probably pretty middling.

The Complete Birth of the Cool - Miles Davis (1998).

Being very much a fan of Miles Davis' fusion work, I'm not terribly versed in his discography prior to Kind of Blue. I really couldn't get into this album - it was pleasant but forgettable. In his autobiography Davis laments white America's later attachment to this period, which he has no desire to revisit (This was back in 1990). I'm inclined to agree.

The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording - John Coltrane (2001).

Poor production owing to audio balance can't cover up how awesome this performance was. Listening to this, you'd never know John Coltrane was suffering as much as he was. Probably surpassed by the Live in Japan box set, but that's one of my favorite live performances ever, so it's no problem here.

This Is What I Do - Sonny Rollins (2000).

Checked this out on a recommendation from a scathing inditement of Ken Burns' rightfully maligned documentary, Jazz. It was described in said essay as one of Rollins' best - I'm inclined to agree, there's a lot of fantastic playing and if you're in the mood for hard-bob this will scratch all the right itches.

The Complete On the Corner Sessions - Miles Davis (2007).

 

Run the Jewels 2.

 

Leonard Ramsay, it's more that you insist on using large, huge or enormous font when you type which sounds like you're a bit deaf and there's frankly no reason for it old boy.



DJ Shadow, Entroducing (1996)

This is a seminal album; the first of its kind, to use samples as all the music. If you don't own this trip hop masterpiece, you should.

 

Dude I heard a dj shadow song on a Lexus commercial the other day and I was like what the ****


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

that new pink floyd album. a real nothing album.

 

After Private Press he's forgettable. But those two albums. Rogue Ten don't even know what he don't even done known!

 

"No Room At The Hotel" by Jessie Mae Renfro




A classic for any time of year. This gets back to the core of song-writing as a form of story-telling, and delivers in spades. Among the many things worth praising in this song, its moral incisiveness is a real standout. Not content to merely criticize their decision, Renfro highlights the judgment in error that was its proximate cause. This challenges us to make a rich engagement in the way skewed judgment and perceptual errors lead us astray. Yet, at the same time, it rejects the road of easy moral relativism, fast-forwarding us to a scene at the end of time. A modern masterpiece.

4/5 Stars

 

Delightfully disquieting!

 

Mexican Summer: Five Years (2013) – Various Artists



I picked up this digital download retrospective from Mexican Summer label mainly because it’s the only way to get a non-vinyl copy of the song Hang On To Life, a song by Ariel Pink & Jorge Elbrecht I wanted to get ahold of. That song was worth it, but most of the other songs on the record were fairly forgettable. Luckily, the album was actually a free download. I love promotional downloads. On the whole, average. 2 stars.

tl;dr – free promotional download is a rather bland retrospective for the Mexican Summer label, but average isn’t exactly awful when it comes free. 2 stars.

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