Sunroof! - Cloudz (2003)

I planned to post this a while ago, but better to post it now than never. Sunroof! is Matthew Bower from England; he's been active for 25 years and has released over 60 albums under a variety of names. This happens to be the best release he's had in my opinion, as his genre is hard to pin down considering that he also works in the post-punk and noise scenes.

There's a lot to enjoy here. "Machine" is a beautiful opening to the 70-minute album. "Zero" is expectional. "Primavera" is fantastic fuzzed-out noise/experimental rock. This is nine tracks and 70 minutes long and it's hard to find a single minute that isn't worthy of repeated listens.

Try it
Buy it

(editor's note: you'll get several posts from me today; I'll attempt to stop being lazy)

Sweet Trip - Velocity : Design : Comfort (2003)

Since all we've had up lately was "best of" lists, I think it's about time we get a new album posted. This is just a really enjoyable record from a band that knows how to make great electronic and dream pop music. The songs feel very spacey and diverse, and no song sounds like the very next. On some songs, such as the intro it sounds sort of like a Venetian Snares CD but on others you get a glitchy sort of "Loveless" feel from it like my favorite track "Fruitcake and Cookies". The flip flopping that goes on here feels almost abrupt but it all adds to the overrall feel of the album. It's probably a love it or hate it album, for some it would sound fragmented to a fault, yet for others it could that album that grabs your attention right back everytime it manages to lose it. It's definitely something everyone should try out though.

FLAC (Cause the FLAC was too big for Mediafire)

MP3

Buy

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A Perfect Circle - 13th Step (2003)

If you're like me, you've always wanted to give metal a chance only to be scared a way by hairy men and growling vocals. This the album for you.

A Perfect Circle is a supergroup formed by guitar-player Billy Howerdel (Nine-Inch Nails, Fishbone, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) and Tool front-man and vocalist Maynard James Keenan as well as a wealth of other well-known figures in the heavy metal scene.

The majority of the album is smooth instrumentals with Keenan singing in a soft, deliberate voice interspersed with heavy, loud conclusions on many of the songs, you'll find no growling here. It also gets bonus points for being a concept album about the twelve steps of addiction. It's deep, fun, and beautiful.

Try It First (Mediafire, 69MB .Zip)
Buy It

Youtube Samples:
The Package
The Noose
The Nurse Who Loved Me

Boris - Akuma no Uta (2003)

Boris is a brutal delicacy, that rare concoction that does all things for all people. If everyone knew it and consumed it in extremis, though, it would stop being a delicacy, right? Oh well, everyone else's loss. _Akuma No Uta_ is a drop-dead masterpiece, from the punishing drone of the opener to the gong-inititiated reprise of the intro on the last song, the title track (translated as "The Evil Song.") They can do it all and just about better than all the competition:
--Sludge? I don't hear anyone who can blend a blaring punk melody with sludge in such a truly sickly-sweet manner as Boris does on their upbeat tracks;
--Drone? To say the least, but that doesn't stop them from rocking like mad when they choose to push their own boundaries.
--Psychedelic? Believe me, when you turn _Akuma No Uta_ up as loud as you need to, there are few more mind-and-body-altering experience than this one (really your body churns!!!);
--Punk? Yeah . . . we can call this band punk as fuck. To those who like their music in boxes and think that punk as fuck means the latest Exploited retread, well, Boris is too punk for you. For the rest of us, Boris may be the band who can cash in on the late, great Refused's promise of _The Shape of Punk to Come_. Like the Refused, Boris takes any style and makes it their own in their awe-inspiring music machine (minus the jazziness of the Nordic screamers, but plus the sludge, drone, psychedelia, etc. . . .). Also like the Refused, Boris are forward-looking, taking the listener on a gleeful death ride that leaves you absolutely free. It doesn't get more punk than that, kids.
When you take into account that Boris are Japanese and rock harder and better than pretty much any of us in the Anglo world, it's clear to see where our eyes should be turning to discover where the future of rock lay. I realize that I've talked them up more than I've reviewed the songs, but words can hardly describe. I'll just say that it compares 100% favorably with their newest opus _Pink_, just more succinct. Oh, did I mention they play their instruments to within an inch of their literal existences? (I don't think I've heard an amp abused as much as on _Akuma No Uta_). Wata is one wicked, original, and visceral guitarist. I could go on and on, but I'm just gonna let you buy this album; wait for it to come in the mail; put it on your stereo's highest setting (jack up the bass!!!); and feel your perception, and hence your life, change.

Try it

Ruinzhatova - Close to the RH Kiki (2003)

One of the most strangely obscure bands of the Japanese underground. By names alone, this should be considered a go-to classic for sure. A joint effort from the twisted minds of Ruins (Yoshida Tatsuya (also appears on: nearly every Japanese underground band that requires drumming) and Sasaki Hisashi (one of Ruins' bassists. The most recent and one of the most noted, for sure)) and Omoide-Hatoba(Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms (although probably(?) left after Vision Creation Newsun, claiming they have perfected their sound (I won't pretend to understand Boredoms or their history)), ROVO, Novo Tono) and Atsushi Tsuyama (Acid Mothers Temple))* it must certainly be known that this is no amateur effort. Combining some of the most humorous and technical of the Japanese noise rockists, they create a thrill ride.

And it starts with what should be innocence. The first track is a cover of Kraftwerk's piece, Trans Europe Express, although you would hardly be able to tell. Sure, it starts off with the famous repetition of "Trans Europe Express", but, suddenly, as the last of the chants goes off, there is one final "Express", a clang on the drums and then suddenly you're floating in a maze of drums, buzzing guitars and misaligned rhythms, not at all reminiscent of Kraftwerk's synth pop tune. And this sort of comical experimentation happens throughout. Surely one of the highlights is the plainly named, Sex Machine/Larks Tongue in Aspic pt.II. You could notice the names apart, but the complication comes when the song kicks into gear, with one guitar playing the groovy James Brown hit Sex Machine in your right headphone while the other plays the King Crimson classic Larks Tongue in Aspic pt.II on your left. With only the drums and the noticeable feeling that they stop trying to cover songs as quickly they announce it, to blend the tracks, the creation inbound is so strange, so surreal, it's intoxicating.

They do have their original tracks, however. As only Yoshida/Seiichi/Atsushi can, they create their own esoteric noise rock/improvisational mayhem leaving any sort of logical train derailed. Even if the disc is dominated by what they seem to consider cover tracks (the longest and most traditional is their version of the Yes epic, Close to the Edge), it is absurd to think of this album as anything other than originality in it's most pure essence. Hidden rhythms, Yoshida's traditional linear drumming and gibberish vocals, Seiichi and Atsushi's well known, effect-ridden guitars and Sasaki's sound bass along with their collective penchant for inserting personality and humor into this music creates a sound that plays more like a couple of competent musicians jerking around with what they do naturally rather than a band going out and focusing on what they've practiced for ages. By creating this album which feels so unplanned, so effortless, it creates somewhat of a personal connection with the band. You're peering into what these guys do as a hobby, not a job.

*couple of notes on the members. 1. Sorry to namedrop, but for those familiar, it should relate the sound in a more abstract manner. 2. Some places list Sasaki as the bassist and Atsushi another guitarist, some list Atsushi as a bassist and Sasaki on guitar and some list Atsushi on bass and Sasaki not in the band at all. I'm not sure at all on the complete issue, but I don't think it changes much.

Buy (this is just a link to Yoshida's label. I don't think it's available, but you can double check/contact Yoshida to make sure. Sorry to complicate, if I find something easier it'll be in comments)

Download

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