Top-10 albums of 2014 (part.1)

It's that time of the year again.. time to list my PERSONAL top-10 albums of the year. These are all albums that have had an impact on me as a music listener, a fan and as a musician. Once again I will release the list in two parts. I will exclude re-releases, re-masters, live sets, compilations etc..and focus only on new material released within this year. So, without further ado...Lets begin!


#10 Talons - New Topographics 

Talons was a new find for me this year. They're an UK-based instrumental post-rock/post-metal outfit who've been around since 2008. New Topographics is their third full-lenght album. It uses a lot of experimentation with chilling strings and noisy guitars. All the songs stand out from the mass of post-rock material released these days with their brilliant compositions. A lot of the timbre's bring Godspeed You! Black Emperor to my mind with a little bit more of pop-like parts thrown in the mix, yet keeping the songs diverse and emotional. 


Favourite track(s): Monuments, The Wild Places






#9 Pianos Become The Teeth - Keep You

Yet another band I found just this year, Pianos Become The Teeth is one of the bands from "the wave" of screamo/post-hardcore bands of the 2000's and 2010's along with bands like Touché Amoré and La Dispute. I came across their earlier material and noticed that their new album "Keep You" was being released this fall. I got myself familiar with PBTT's older material just in time for the new album to drop out and I got to say, at first I didn't enjoy it a lot. But Keep You kept growing on me during the following weeks. I guess that's what this kind of music a lot of times does with me. Keep You is filled with emotional lyricism and features a lot more softer side of the band than their earlier material. Sticking only with clean vocals was a bold but awesome move from PBTT. 

If you are a fan of emo and/or post-hardcore, then give this album a listen and let it grow on you. 

Favourite track(s): Lesions, Repine, Late Lives, Enamor Me







#8 DJ Kridlokk - Mutsi 

Ah..The first rap album of the list. The Finnish Dj Kridlokk is a rap artist/producer who's part of the KC/MD Mafia and is infamous for his Finnish Memphis sound. Mutsi is Kridlokk's follow-up to his album UG-Solo which was released in 2011. The album has a really grim sound and lyrics that are both critical and badass. Kridlokk rhymes about real life and how he's fed up with the world. But to me, the album is more about the sound, feel and atmosphere than taking the lyrics seriously. The two feature's of the album are by Kridlokk's colleagues Tuuttimörkö and Eevil Stöö and they both perform their verses just right. 

Favourite track(s): Lokin Ipsum, IDKFA, Stö & Lok 







#7 La Dispute - Rooms Of The House

I had great expectations for the new La Dispute album after their masterpiece Wildlife from 2011 which in my books is a solid 10/10 album. Rooms Of The House continues fluently with just about the same style as Wildlife. Sounds are just as raw and the lyrical themes are just as depressing as they were last time. Once again I had to listen to "Rooms" a little more than a few times to fully understand it's grace and all the emotions it emits. 

Once again the band utilises bits and sounds outside their live band with the inclusion of for example the glockenspiel. But I love how all their songs are played just as they are live - raw and hard-hitting. The guitar sounds are full of vibes which just give me the chills every time they hit a chord. Vocalist Jordan Dreyer's vocal performance is  heartbreaking and the emotions he is capable of producing with his voice are amazing. 

Favourite track(s): Hudsonville MI, 1956; 35; Scenes from highways 1981/2009

#6 Swans - To Be Kind

When this monster of an album hit everybody in the face in the alternative music scene I was really ignorant and left it without a listen (except for the song Oxygen which was released as a single before the album) until well into the fall. Upon revisiting To Be Kind I was really surprised when I found out how elaborate and powerful it was. I guess I just wasn't ready to listen to it when it released. I just had to have a right state of mind to sit through this 2 hour greatness. To Be Kind feels like such a flowing album that the time just flies by and it feels amazing.

I am in no position to compare To Be Kind to Swans' earlier material as I have almost no experience of their albums before it (apart from a couple of listens of The Seer). I guess I'm fairly new to experimental music in a scale of this big. In To Be Kind I fell in love with the atmospheric building structures and the contrast of delicate timbres of clean guitars painting the soundscape to the crushing aggressive pounding of the bass and drums accompanied by Mr. Gira's menacing vocals.

Swans uses their instruments extremely diversely and create sounds out of this world. Every song on the double LP is a journey through the bands collective mind which seems to write every bit out amazingly naturally. Even though a lot the time the songs are very static the little nuances of for example sudden guitar harmonies or vocals that surprise the listener keep the journey interesting throughout the album. Not a single song feels too repetitive or too long (even though there are a lot of songs that surpass the lengths of typical rock songs). 

I can see To Be Kind being the "Skinny Fists" of the 2010's in the future being an experimental masterpiece and I can already see it getting a same kind of recognition throughout fans of alternative music listeners. 

Favourite track(s): Just A Little Boy (For Chester Burnett), Bring The Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture, 





This concludes the first 5 of my top-10 albums of 2014. I will finish the list during these few days (within a week at most). 

Leave a comment if you agree with me on the list or have your own favourites.


Peace and LOVE
- Matti

Album review: ∞ - Emme Näe Elämää

Wow.. I've been waiting for this album for quite a while already and finally it's here. The new ∞ (eight) album Emme Näe Elämää feels like a fresh breath of cold air after their earlier masterpiece Näyt Kauas from 2012. The new album seems to continue from where the last one left yet the sound seems to head more towards the screamo elements mixed with post-rock and away from post-metal when comparing the two. 

Eight sticks to the same elements sound-wise in this album as the last one. The vocals are as great as they were last time with melancholy-filled moaning and screaming that really give me the chills. Not only are the vocals improved, so are the instrumentals; drum and bass sounds are varied and dynamic ranging from quiet and distant to crushing and shrill. 

"Kuinka kauan kestää toukokuun lumi?"

Compositionally Eight keeps it's quality with utilising varied elements of alternative genres. The post-rock-esque crescendos and clean guitars mix once again perfectly with the contrast of crushing style of hardcore. I was personally intrigued by the little bit of noise in the outro of the song Tuntemisaisti. Even some always-welcome blast beat action was carried out in the climaxes of the songs Kuuron Laulu and Juostaan Ylös Vuorelle. Kuuron Laulu features more aggressive and fast-paced riffs in the first half of the song. It then takes a long time building up to a crushing ending with blast beat and tremolo riffing. 

The lyrics of the album are very poetic with themes of solitude, dreams and a lot of metaphorical storytelling. I especially love the lyrics of Lohdutusseremonia which seems to tell of life and death and dealing with loss. The whole song is a melancholic piece which starts with a sad melodic guitar and a groovy drum beat. The song alternates between soft and hard with a great crescendo in the middle of the song which then comes apart and goes back to where the whole song started. 

As a fan of post-rock, hardcore and post-metal this album doesn't let me down the slightest. Every song is a story and an adventure to experience. 




Favourite songs: Lohdutusseremonia, Kuuron Laulu, Antakaa Meidän Nukahtaa

8.5/10 

Clearly one of this year's strongest albums to me. 

Indie Shoutout vol. 5

Cassie is a Finnish post-rock band with much potential to grow over the barriers of ordinary post-rock. Their newest release is an EP titled Old Light which was released February 2014. The band's sound is very typical for the genre with dreamy guitar leads and long crescendos. The female vocals which are not so typical for post-rock bring a nice touch and the sound of the lead vocalist Sofia Thurén fits the sound of the band so well. Believable and beautifully emotional lyrics are a key point in the vocals also.

Old Light EP

Post-rock is known for bringing "non-rock" instruments to the mix and so does Cassie with the inclusion of a string quartet. The almost-a-cliche "post-rock tremolo" -sound is amazing combined with the tremolo violins in the opening track of Old Light. 

The first track simply called Old Light Is a pretty typical post-rock song with a long crescendo which erupts in the end. What makes this track for me are the beautiful vocal melodies and the AMAZING quest appearance of Callisto-vocalist Jani Ala-Hukkala. Being a huge Callisto fan I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw he was in this track. His screams create a post-hardcore-ish vibe to the high-point of the track.

The second track Keep Your Kings In The Back Row starts out with a nice groove. The song has a nice tone to it with the strings bringing a nice touch of comfort. The track is very enjoyable and beautifully arranged to the point of myself failing to see any (even minor) problems.

"You are so afraid of life and I only have courage for myself"

The EP ends with a track titled White Waves. The track starts with a bang which sounds much like a Caspian song but then it continues with a beautiful melodic and dreamy part. The vocals carry the song towards the calming latter half of the song which starts out with a guitar lead. The song proceeds to a beautiful "explosion" of vibrantly colorful sounds again much like a Caspian song and continues to an even more tough part with a slow blast beat which erupts the whole song. The track ends and the listener is left with a complete expression of the bands sound. 

Overall the EP is a great piece of art with much potential for the future. What comes to the quality of composition, arrangement and production the sound of Cassie is on par with bands like Caspian, Explosions In The Sky and other epitomes of post-rock. The vocals are a major pro from me and I just fell in love with the vocal melodies of the album. The Old Light EP made me take a closer look on the band's earlier stuff which i have earlier considered as too cliche'd. 

I hope Cassie continues their effort to make more amazing releases and wish them luck on their tour which takes place both in Finland and the UK.

Love

- Matti

ps. more stuff coming soon as I'm done with my matriculation exams.

A little about my soloproject

I started writing songs like almost 5 years ago when I was in junior highschool. At the time I didn't have my own guitar or anything... I had to resort to my dad's old acoustic guitar (which my brother had actually used for composing some post-rock a few years backwards) and Guitarpro 5. My first songs were not that good (well I guess you can't expect to write masterpieces right away). With time I got better and got used to writing with my equipment. I experimented with different genres and styles differing from electronic to rap to metal and even some classical-influenced but somehow post-rock and post-metal just stuck with me.

A photo of me with my acoustic Landola from early 2012

In early 2011 I had bought my first electric guitar and even upgraded to GuitarPro 6. I started composing and arranging my first album. Some pieces didn't fit to each other and some of the songs were not yet completed when I decided to record the album. During 2012 I had recorded Remedy (part.1) with my brother. I bought some recording equipment and started working on the recordings in November 2012 and decided to try to release it in time for Christmas as a present for my girlfriend. I composed Remedy (part.2) during the recordings and the whole Solitude, My Friend song was an experiment I did one day with recording different sounds on top of an ambient pad loop. 

The concept of the album kind of wrote itself. The songs tell of my loneliness in junior high when I didn't really have many friends and the title of the album Remedy For Solitude refers to my girlfriend who I got to know during my last year there (and we've been together since). 

Front and back cover of my album.

Only 10 physical copies of the album were made and I numbered them by hand

I've been working on new songs for a second release but I feel like I'm having a writers block as I have to write and do everything alone. Finding bandmates would help much with writing. 

You can download my album for free at bandcamp (http://untoldmemories.bandcamp.com/) and follow me in facebook (https://www.facebook.com/untoldproject). By donating money you can help me get new equipment to help me with the next release. 

I really don't feel like translating this all to Finnish :S 

--

Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti

Indie Shout Out vol.2

Toinen loistava löytö tänä syksynä oli suomalainen yhdenmiehen bändi/projekti Stars As Lights, jonka uusin julkaisu As If Time Had Stopped on huikea kymmenen kappaleen post-rock teos, jossa jokainen kappale kertoo oman tarinansa.

Stars As Lights on jyväskyläläisen Lauri Paavolaisen sooloprojekti. As If Time Had Stopped on kaikkine post-rock -kliseineenkin juuri täydellinen taidepläjäys minunlaiselleni musiikin ystävälle. Albumi erottuukin joukosta edukseen juuri sävellyksen ja tuotannon puolesta. Koko albumi on rauhoittavan kaunista kuunneltavaa alusta loppuun eikä yksikään kappale kuulosta samalta. Albumin kokonaisuus tuo mieleen Explosions In The Skyn alkutuotannon.

As If Time Had Stopped kuuluu ehdottomasti tämän vuoden parhaimpien post-rockjulkaisujen joukkoon Sigur Rósin ja God Is An Astronautin uusimpien albumien rinnalle.

--

Another great discovery from this fall was the Finnish one-man-band/project Stars As Lights whose newest release As It Time Had Stopped is an immense ten track post-rock work in which every track tells its own story.

Stars As Lights is the solo project of Lauri Paavolainen from Jyväskylä, Finland. As If Time Had Stopped is just the perfect piece of art for a music lover like myself even with all its post-rock cliches. The album sticks out from the crowd with its amazing compositions and production quality. The whole album is restfully beautiful from the beginning all the way until the end and none of the songs sound too much alike. The album as a whole brings to my mind the earlier works of Explosions In The Sky. 

As If Time Had Stopped belongs easily to the top post-rock albums of the year alongside the new albums by Sigur Rós and God Is An Astronaut. 

--

Also the artwork is absolutely amazing! :)

- Peace And ΓΟΛΕ - 
Matti

Indie Shout Out Vol.3

Tamperelainen Consciousness Removal Project (lyhyesti CRP) on soinut jo useamman vuoden iPodissani enkä vieläkään ole kyllästynyt Antti Loposen projektityylisen bändin tuotoksiin tippaakaan. CRP luo uskomattomia tunneilmauksia äärimmäisen taitavasti tuotetuilla albumeillaan (joita bändin katalogista löytyy jo 5 ja lisäksi aikaisempia albumeille päätymättömiä yksittäisiä kappaleita). Uusin albumi Tacit julkaistiin tämän vuoden alussa. Itselle tämä albumi on alkanut aueta vasta viime viikkoina (sen jälkeen kun luin albumin tarinan CRP:n sivuilta (http://consciousnessremovalproject.com/)).

Tacit tuo projektin post-metal-tyyliin uusia kokeilullisia piirteitä elektronisesta, ambientista ja jopa dronesta. Jokainen kappale tuo jotain uutta mukaan ja albumin kohokohta Colossus III: Deadlock luo käännekohdan, jonka jälkeen loput kappaleet käyvät läpi kauniita tunnemaailmoja. Koko albumi loppuu yli kymmenminuuttiseen progressiiviseen ambientvaikutteiseen kappaleeseen The Unknown Known, joka huipentuu post-metalriffittelyyn ja albumin ainoaan vokaaleja sisältävään motiiviin.

Myös CRP:n aiemmat albumit The Last Season, Do You Ever Think It's The End Of The World, 852 ja bändin nimikkoalbumi tuovat levy levyltä jotain uutta CRP:n tyyliin syvällisillä konsepteilla ja äänimaailmoja laajentamalla. Joka levyltä löytyy vierailevia muusikoita, jotka rikastavat albumien musikaalisuutta.

Arvostan Consciousness Removal Projectin etumiestä Antti Loposta sekä säveltäjänä, että taiteilijana ja odotan innolla projectin seuraavaa albumia, joka lienee odotettavissa ensi vuoden puolella.

--

Tampere based Consciousness Removal Project (CRP for shortened) has blasted in my iPod for several years already and I have yet to be bored by a single piece of art by this project-like band of Antti Loponen. CRP creates unbelievable expressions of emotions accompanied with skillful productions on their albums (which the band has already 5 in their catalog plus earlier songs that have not been released on albums). Their newest album Tacit was released in early 2013. For me personally the album has opened its true meaning only during these few weeks (after I read the story behind the album at their website (http://consciousnessremovalproject.com/)).

Tacit brings new experimental traits from electro, ambient and even drone to the projects post-metal style. Every single track adds something new to the mix and the highlight of the album Colossus III: Deadlock marks a turning point after which the rest of the songs undergo beautiful worlds of sensation. The whole album ends with a ten minute progressive ambient-influenced track called The Unknown Known which culminates to slow post-metal riffs and the albums only part with vocals.

Consciousness Removal Project's earlier albums The Last Season, Do You Ever Think It's The End Of The World, 852 and their self-titled album add something new to their style album by album with deep concepts and expanding soundscapes. Every album has quest musicians who enrich the musical traits of the albums.

I respect the frontman Antti Loponen of Consciousness Removal Project both as a composer/songwriter and a respectful artist and I'm eagerly waiting for their next album which can be expected to be released sometime during next year.

 

Cheers to CRP and everyone who respects them as much as I do

- Matti

Catch of the year - Vuoden löytö

Tämän syksyn uskomattomin musiikkilöytö minulle oli jyväskyläläinen ∞ (lausutaan eight), joka yhdistelee post-rockin maalailevaa puhtautta ja post-hardcoren aggressiivisuutta - ja vielä suomeksi laulettuna! Bändin noin vuosi sitten julkaistu albumi Näyt Kauas on ladattavissa bandcampista (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Myös bändin aiempaa tuotantoa löytyy samalta sivulta.

Näyt Kauas on sekä musiikillisesti, että lyriikallisesti kaunista kuunneltavaa. Erityisesti minuun kolahti kappale Elä Sinä Minusta, joka alkaa hiljaisella introlla ja kasvaa seuraavaan kappaleeseen johdattavaan loppuun.

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

Albumin toinen kappale Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme on selvästi post-metal -vaikutteinen ja jaksaa viihdyttää kuulijaa koko seitsemän minuutin keston.

Bändin lyriikat ovat ovelia ja saavat ajattelemaan niiden oikeata tarkoitusperää. Omien tulkintojeni mukaan lyriikoiden keskeisimpiin teemoihin kuuluu yksinäisyyden kuvaus. 

Odotan innolla mitä ∞ saa aikaan tulevaisuudessa ja suosittelen kaikille pienempienkin bändien tukemista. 

--

My most unbelievable new discovery this fall was a band from Jyväskylä, Finland called ∞ (pronounced eight) which combines artistic purity of post-rock with the aggressive motion of post-hardcore - and they sing in finnish! Their album Näyt Kauas which was released a little over a year ago is available for download at bandcamp (http://eightband.bandcamp.com/). Their older works are also available on the site.  

Näyt Kauas (Finnish for You Appear Afar) is both musically and lyrically beautiful to listen to. Especially the track Elä Sinä Minusta (I wont be translating the names or the lyrics because they can have many meanings and i don't want to upset the band for translating their visions wrong) affected me greatly. The track begins with a quiet intro and builds up into an end which leads to the next track. 

lyrics for Elä Sinä Minusta: 

Elä sinä minusta 

huoli talven synnystä 

tampereen kohdalla. 

Riitteen muutosta järveen 

ovatko kaikki 

ennättäneet jo etelään 

The second track of the album Hetki Jolloin Emme Tienneet Mitään Toisistamme is obviously influenced by post-metal and it keeps the listener entertained for the whole duration of seven minutes. 

Eight's lyrics are genius and make the listener ponder about their real meaning. According to my own interpretation one of the biggest themes of the lyrics is solitude. 

I am eagerly waiting what ∞ does in the future and I deeply recommend everyone to support smaller bands.

--

Peace and ΓΟΛΕ

 -Matti