Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (2005)

The past few weeks for me can only truly be defined by one thing - Okkervil River. In the indie-folk state I am currently in, the discovery of Okkervil River hit me twice as hard. Black Sheep Boy (the band's 3rd album), as well as their 4th and 5th albums The Stage Names and The Stand Ins, respectively, are all masterpieces in the genre. Honestly, just listen and enjoy. I haven't truly enjoyed a rock album like this for a long time.

Genres: Indie rock, indie folk, alternative rock

1. "Black Sheep Boy" - 1:19
2. "For Real" - 4:42
3. "In a Radio Song" - 5:39
4. "Black" - 4:39
5. "Get Big" - 3:55
6. "A King and a Queen" - 3:22
7. "A Stone" - 5:23
8. "The Latest Toughs" - 3:11
9. "Song Of Our So-Called Friend" - 3:23
10. "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" - 8:03
11. "A Glow" - 3:43

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Herbert von Karajan conducts Johannes Brahms' 4 Symphonies

I've been meaning to post some good classical on this blog for a long time, and my recent discovery of this musical genius who is Johannes Brahms signaled for me to do so. Honestly, all I can say about this late classical period/early romantic period composer is WOW. My dad showed me the 3rd movement of his 3rd symphony on a night which I was in a severe state of heartbreak, and it proved so deeply and emotionally touching and satisfying that I literally felt my feeling expressed just by hearing the music. Brahms' music is literally the most emotionally deep music I have ever listened to. While some call him the successor to Beethoven, after his first symphony, which was dubbed by many "Beethoven's 10th" because of its similarity to Beethoven's style near the end of his life, he began to adapt his own style and incorporate more of a romantic style into his compositions, the start of the romantic period of classical music. This CD contains all 4 of his symphonies performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra conducted by one of my favorite conductors of all time, Herbert von Karajan. It is split up into 2 discs, the first with symphonies 1 & 3 (my two favorites, as a matter of fact) and the second with 2 & 4. All four of them are absolutely stunning, and I highly suggest spending a night or two listening to all four at a high volume with top-quality speakers/headphones.

True masterpieces by a true genius.

Hope you enjoy.

Genres: Classical (Classical/Romantic period), Orchestral

Disc One:

1. "Symphony #1 (In C Minor, Op. 68) - 1. Un Poco Sostenuto - Allegro" - 13:26
2. "Symphony #1 - 2. Andante Sostenuto" - 8:26
3. "Symphony #1 - 3. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso" - 4:48
4. "Symphony #1 - 4. Adagio - Piu Andante - Allegro Non Troppo, Ma Con Brio" - 17:46
5. "Symphony #3 (In F, Op. 90) - 1. Allegro Con brio" - 9:39
6. "Symphony #3 - 2. Andante" - 8:14
7. "Symphony #3 - 3. Poco Allegretto" - 6:18
8. "Symphony #3 - 4. Allegro" - 9:17

Disc Two:

1. "Symphony #2 (In C Minor, Op. 68) - 1. Un Poco Sostenuto - Allegro" - 15:50
2. "Symphony #2 - 2. Andante Sostenuto" - 9:49
3. "Symphony #2 - 3. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso" - 5:23
4. "Symphony #2 - 4. Adagio - Piu Andante - Allegro Non Troppo, Ma Con Brio" - 9:31
5. "Symphony #4 (In F, Op. 90) - 1. Allegro Con Brio" - 12:46
6. "Symphony #4 - 2. Andante" - 11:05
7. "Symphony #4 - 3. Poco Allegretto" - 6:04
8. "Symphony #4 - 4. Allegro" - 10:00

Disc One

Disc Two

Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Született (2005)

Hey guys, I've been really busy with school and all that so I haven't gotten much of a chance to upload new stuff. But I have many, many albums I wish to upload on here, and this is only one that I discovered last night but has amazed me most on first listen. My first listen through this album equalled an absolute state of shock and amazement. Aaron Funk is a IDM (Intelligent Dance Music)/breakcore artist who goes by the name Venetian Snares. My friend Matt (his blog is in my page description on the right) first introduced me to Venetian Snares with his ambitious new release Detrimentalist, which was full of insane mindf***ing beats in (usually) 7/4 time or some complex time signature and never ceased to blow my mind. However, I had no idea what I was in for with this Rossx Csillag Allat Szuletett - a truly EPIC as hell cross between powerful classical tunes, as if they were in a movie soundtrack, and just as he creates the atmosphere, heavy or calming, he ambitiously shatters through it with a mindblowingly insane beat.

Full of beautiful and disturbing classical tunes and beats/glitches ready to make your brain explode, this album is a masterpiece of a true genius.

Genres: Breakcore, IDM, glitchcore, avant-garde, classical music, soundtrack music

1. "Sikertelenség" - 0:41
2. "Szerencsétlen" - 4:56
3. "Öngyilkos Vasárnap" - 3:26
4. "Felbomlasztott Mentökocsi" - 3:45
5. "Hajnal" - 7:46
6. "Galamb Egyedül" - 1:37
7. "Második Galamb" - 6:02
8. "Szamár Madár" - 5:49
9. "Hiszékeny" - 1:39
10. "Kétsarkú Mozgalom" - 8:50
11. "Senki Dala" - 2:16

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Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (2007)

I know I haven't posted for a while, but during this short hiatus I have listened to and found TONS of new music. This is one that I have been insanely obsessed with for the past month or so. Beirut, mainly consisting of 22-year-old Zach Condon and a large backing band creates a kind of indie-folk I've never heard the likes of before. Throwing together Eastern European, folk, indie rock, French and gypsy/Balkan folk influences all into one flowing style of music, along with his deep, smooth voice and 9-person backing band, these compositions are just phenomenal. This is an incredibly innovative, intriguing, and overall timeless album. Beirut has now become one of my favorite musical acts in existence - all hail Beirut!

Genres: Indie-folk, indie-rock, Balkan gypsy music, Neo-Balkan

1. "A Call to Arms" - 0:19
2. "Nantes" - 3:50
3. "A Sunday Smile" - 3:36
4. "Guyamas Sonora" - 3:32
5. "La Banlieu" - 1:58
6. "Cliquot" - 3:52
7. "The Penalty" - 2:22
8. "Forks and Knives (La Fête)" - 3:34
9. "In the Mausoleum" - 3:13
10. "Un dernier Verre (Pour la Route)" - 2:51
11. "Cherbourg" - 3:35
12. "St. Apollonia" - 2:59
13. "The Flying Club Cup" - 3:05

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LITE - Phantasia (2008)

Shit, this album is amazing. Seriously one of the smoothest and most perfect math-rock albums I've ever heard, from the Japanese band LITE.  Just listen and be amazed. That is all I can say.

Genres: Math rock, instrumental rock, progressive rock

1. "Ef" - 4:12
2. "Contra" - 3:45
3. "Infinite Mirror" - 4:39
4. "Shinkai" - 5:23
5. "Black and White" - 4:14
6. "Interlude" - 1:35
7. "Ghost Dance" - 4:31
8. "Solitude" - 5:49
9. "Phantasia" - 5:08
10. "Fade" - 5:26
11. "Sequel to the Letter" - 2:59

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Thievery Corporation - The Richest Man In Babylon (2002)

So I just got back from a quick trip in Maine, during which I listened to an intense amount of lounge music. Lounge music, typically, is an easy-listening light-style of music merging together different styles of downtempo and trip-hop electronica and is usually a very calming, chill type of music that is literally perfect to just play at a lounge, as the name implies. In the case of Thievery Corporation, extreme dub, jazz, and world music influences are portrayed. In fact, nearly all of their songs include a chill electronic beat over a dubby bassline and someone singing in some exotic middle-eastern language. 

The Richest Man In Babylon, keeping the downtempo aesthetic that all of this band's albums consist of, mixes many different styles in an audacious fashion, including a huge variety of diverse influences. With their typical dub and jazz influences, many flavors of dance music, rap, reggae, and specifically Indian music are boldly yet smoothly combined. This album truly treads the line between acoustic and electronic music, beautifully mixing together elements of echoing synth lines, heavy dub-bass, compressed beats and acoustic instrumentation. And what's really special about this album is, by the time you've reached the end, it feels as if you've just taken a beautiful, yet mellow trip through half the world, each song on the album, however vaguely, including elements of various diverse types of world music, including vocals on several tracks ranging from English to Spanish to French to Persian. This album is really quite a treasure, I highly recommend you to just grab a coffee, find a comfortable seat, and just play this album through and relax.

Genres: Lounge, electronica, downtempo, trip-hop, dub, reggae, dance music, hip-hop, world music, jazz

1. "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes" - 4:10
2. "Facing East" - 3:44
3. "The Outernationalist" - 3:330
4. "Interlude" - 1:21
5. "Omid (Hope)" - 3:48
6. "All That We Perceieve" - 3:46
7. "Un Simple Histoire (A Simple History)" - 3:36
8. "Meu Destino (My Destiny)" - 3:30
9. "Exilo (Exile)" - 3:03
10. "From Creation" - 4:20
11. "The Richest Man In Babylon" - 3:50
12. "Liberation Front" - 5:04
13. "The State of the Union" - 4:29
14. "Until the Morning" - 3:57
15. "Resolution" - 4:47

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Guru - Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1

Hey everyone, I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted, but this was mostly due to extreme laziness as well as 5 weeks on vacation. Anyhow, I have TONS of music ready to be posted so I will try my best to post as much as possible without getting too lazy.  While I was on vacation, I gained an extreme passion for hip-hop, so expect much more hip-hop on this blog in the future.

This album by Guru of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr is a great introduction to hip-hop for jazz fans as volume 1 of a series of albums he made called Jazzmatazz, a series of albums based on an experimental fusion of jazz and hip-hop, including a live jazz band playing in the background and usually an MC rapping over it. This CD also features the famous, and one of my favorite saxophonists of all time, Branford Marsalis ripping track #4, Transit Ride. The catchy and lively hip-hop beats over chill, sharp jazz improvisations and intriguing lyrics rapped by Guru really work together to create a very attractive sound that I promise you, hip-hop fan or not, you will enjoy.

Genres: Hip-hop, jazz rap, jazz

1. "Introduction" - 1:20
2. "Loungin'" - 4:40
3. "When You're Near" - 4:03
4. "Transit Ride" - 3:58
5. "No Time to Play" - 4:54
6. "Down the Backstreets" - 4:48
7. "Respectful Dedications" - 0:54
8. "Take a Look (At Yourself)" - 3:59
9. "Trust Me" - 4:38
10. "Slicker Than Most" - 2:38
11. "Le Bien, Le Mal" - 3:22
12. "Sights In the City" - 5:11

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