My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)

[Shoegaze]

First and foremost, fuck that shitty horror movie for staining this amazing band's name. (the new 3d version i means, not the original)

Second, this album is a Shoegaze masterpiece, and pretty much considered one of the most important releases (if not THE most important) of the genre.

My bloody Valentine embody shoegaze to a T. Effect-laden guitar parts, lush musical soundscapes that encircle the listener and hook after hook of heavy-ass pop melody. It'll make you say "How the fuck are they doing this?" And that's one of it's greatest qualities. It is a nonstop psychedelic powerhouse. Beautiful indie pop songs buried in a sea of swirling, crushing guitar distortion and cooing vocals.

A true musical gem, and a must-listen.

Get!

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmnyrffzyzm

Meat Puppets - Too High To Die (1994)

[Alt/Rock]

It was so damn hard to pick between Meat Puppets' albums for just one to upload, but I decided to go with THTD, for a couple of reasons. It's their most known, It's pretty easy to get into, It's just a sweet album all around.

Too high to die is the 8th album by the meat puppets, and I will admit, the fact that my favorite puppets song is Evil Love definitely had something to do with me posting it. =D

This is just a solid rock album... melodic, with great guitar work.

But, more than that, I post this because if you haven't checked out the Meat Puppets, this is a great place to start. Go then and check out more of their stuff, you won't be disappointed.

Yes!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WGA4N0QM

Cynic - Traced In Air (2008)

[Progressive/Metal]

So it should be no surprise to anyone that knows me well that I posted this immediately after posting Mastodon, considering they are my two favorite metal bands.

This is the second release from prog-metal geniouses Cynic, and it took them 15 years to make.
Instead of explaining the complicated story of Cynic's split and reunion, I'll just stick to the album at hand, Traced In Air.

I'll let singer/guitarrist Paul Masvidal's explination suffice:

The album is an intensely concentrated mosaic of internal and external energies, from the deepest peace to the purest aggression. There's an acquired taste that comes with a record of this density, but once your ears wrap themselves around the language at work, everything falls into place and suddenly you'll feel a sudden urge to sing, scream or maybe even cry. The album has a beginning, middle and end. The story will reveal itself after numerous listens and then you may not want to let go. Besides Reinert and I, Tymon brought some new life force and magic to the record with fierce growling and poetic guitar sensibilities. Malone also did a fine job with the low end, grooving away with Reinert in a pocket land from hell!

-Paul Masvidal. (Amazing guy by the way.)

The album is an intense mixture of heaviness and melody.
Basically, If Metal and Jazz had a baby, it's favorite album would be Traced In Air.
Masterpiece.

Ps. Also, get their 1993 release Focus.

Stop listening to shitty Dragonforce, and get some good metal in your life! =D

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jnnjjqgcyyn

Mastodon - Blood Mountain (2006)

[Progressive/Metal]

Considering all the other stuff I've posted here, this is a complete departure. But since I figured I really enjoy metal as well, and this was one of the best metal releases of the last 10 years... Here it is.

Mastodon are, along with Cynic, what gives me hope as to the future of the metal genre. (Yes, I know Cynic's been around for 10+ years, but I'm refering to their new release "Traced in Air")
So, since I'm running the risk of sounding biased and/or deviating from the topic, I'll just go right ahead to the review.

Mastodon is probably the best metal band to come out in recent years. They clearly have their influences very present in what they make, but not so much as to overshadow their creative genious when making something that sounds completely refreshing. A very heavy, yet melodic approach to metal is what's present here, ranging from thrash-y fast to groovy (The Wolf Is Loose and Sleeping Giant, respectively) there's pretty much no aspect of the genre these guys don't cover.

If you're a metal fan, get this. And even if you're not you should definitely give this a listen, their greatest album and an amazingly crafted progressive exploration.

Blood Mountain, is in my opinion, Mastodon's masterpiece.

Get it nao.

Protip: Cedric Bixler, And Ikey Owens from the Mars Volta are guests on the album.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O71BQ8C8

Dungen - Tio Bitar (2007)

[Psychedelic/Rock]

If you listened to this album without knowing anything about the band, you could pretty much pinpoint it's release around the late 60's and early 70's, and in part that is one of the most interesting things about it. Considering it was released in 2007.

Hailing from sweeden, Dungen play psychedelic rock, and do it so well that you can sometimes forget that you're listening to a relatively new band. The last track on the album, for example, is totally reminiscent of early Pink Floyd, especially around their Ummagumma phase. The vocals, on the other hand, sound like a sweedish George Harrisson, but with their own spice.

Very, very interesting band, and something Classic rock fans, as well as indie rock fans should definitely check out. It's very melodic, with roaring guitar solos and thundering drums that sound almost Bonham-ish...


Bottom line, It's technical, it's catchy, and it's amazing.

Get it... Seriously. Like now.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=34GX36K3

Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)

[Acoustic]

Posting that Jose Gonzalez album made me remember that I kept putting off uploading an Elliott Smith album.

Probably one of my biggest influences, not to mention one of the greatest creative musical minds of the last couple of decades; Elliott Smith is the man.
Just like I said in the "In our nature" review, this album is pretty much the basics, a guitar and a voice, pouring out every emotion in his heart.

With so many albums to choose from, I decided to post Either/Or, because
a) It's the one that first got me into him
b) It's got Angeles, probably one of the greatest songs ever written.

RIP. Elliott.

http://rapidshare.com/files/250925680/eitheror.rar

Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature (2007)

[Acoustic/Folk]

The best way I could describe Jose Gonzalez's music would be:
If Silvio Rodriguez became a fan of Elliott Smith, and somehow they both created a mutant guitar-playing baby, it'd probably listen to this album.

A very simple arrangement is what we can find here, most of the time it's just a guitar and Jose's vocals. But honestly, that's all you need. It's very heartfelt and honest, a true gem amongst today's fake plastic (radiohead reference!) musical landscape.

One of the best releases of 07, by one of the most promising talents in recent music.

http://www.mediafire.com/?8cmjnd1e5md