Rat King

I love concept albums, especially when they are done right. Larva is the second effort of the unconventional Rat King, who are (or should be) noted for their brilliant avant-garde industrialism. Their music can best be described as a mix of dark ambient, noise and industrial. Compared to their debut, Larva comes across as mightily ambitious and the scope of the album is lushly varied. The concept behind the album the effect of a man's dreams on his being; a difficult concept to play out without any visuals or vocals. Be that as it may, the key word here is atmosphere and there is a truckload of that. The great thing is that there's no "terror" overkill (i.e. Rat King don't try to be overly terrifying with their music). Even with varying from cavernous percussion to lush orchestration to occasional airy interludes of swirling ambience and stabbing discordance, Larva flows absolutely seamlessly.

Songs are untagged so here's the tracklist:

01 - Egg
02 - Hour Of The World
03 - The Duel
04 - The Wake
05 - Spiracle
06 - For Absent Gods
07 - Tranquility Lane
08 - Smorgasbord
09 - Vapour

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Rollo - Pinhole

Here's yet another Japanese export. Rollo is Boris drummer Atsuo's solo project. It is quite different from the usual Boris fare in that it's mostly lo-fi psychedelic stuff (the Boris connoisseurs amongst you may say it's somewhat similar to the quiet bits on Flood). Pinhole is the (surprisingly good) debut that gives you a rather mellow feeling throughout and you'll definitely give this more than one listen.

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Bon Iver

Ever wondered what staying in a cabin in Wisconsin during winter while gazing out into the snow feels like? This is it. Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago is a testament to "all of his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love and guilt". It's a beautiful, simple and heartfelt record.

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Mouse on the Keys

So much for variety. I know Mouse on the Keys are quite similar to Toe but they are also equally mind-blowing. Post-rock/jazz fusion from Japan (hmm...I'm starting to see a pattern here...). Here is the first of many wonderful full-lengths, An Anxious Object.

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toe- for long after tomorrow

Here is toe, a mathy/post-rock band from japan with a relatively fast-paced sound that for some reason seems to me to be a blend of russian circles and mouse on the keys. Tbh, I don't crazy for too many post-rock bands, but these guys have something going on here. Acoustic guitar, vibraphone, keyboards, bass and drums all mixed into one big, awesome stew. I can see myself enjoying the shit out of this thoughout the coming week.
ici

la quiete - la fine non e la fine

Really fucking interesting album I've been listening to for some time now. Aggressive, yet at times melodic screamo from Italy. Bright guitar work combined with pummeling drums, blastbeats here and there, and the occasional breakdown. Do try it out

gospel-the moon is a dead world

Very interesting recent find of mine. I've been hearing of these guys throughout my time in the music blogosphere, but only today took the time to obtain this record and give it a listen. A (to me) awesome-sounding melange of hardcore and math, no, progressive rock. Do try it out.

here

Spacemen 3

Here's the aptly-named Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to, an unoffical album that consists of demos from Sound of Confusion, the neo-psychadelic/shoegaze band's debut album. It really is very nice and fuzzy so do listen to it.

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pink floyd- dark side of the moon

How's this for a little, lonely late night jam session?