Top 10 of 2013

This past year had many fantastic releases, where as a result making it hard to pick only ten of them. If you have been following my tumblr account, you may have noticed a list I made of some albums which I was highly considering for my favorite releases of the year. Now to follow my last years Top 10 of 2012, here are my top 10 albums of 2013.  

10. Cult of Luna - Vertikal

A band like Cult of Luna never seems to disappoint, and always bring forth something new to their music.
Following this release there was the EP continuing the album's atmosphere and themes, Vertikal II.

9. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

Naturally, this album had a lot hype for myself, considering that it's Nine Inch Nails. This album brings together elements of NIN's earlier music, but in a whole different perspective. This entire album can be listened to again and again with ease, and the whole thing just grooves so well together.

8. Persefone - Spiritual Migration

There are parts of this album that seem like they could be coming right out of a fantasy video game soundtrack, which I say this keeping in mind some of the fantastic soundtracks that have been created. (I can imagine "Outro" fitting perfectly in a scene from a series such as The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy.) The whole album is an extremely enjoyable listen, filled with a multitude of little details that add up to it's fantastic end product.

7. Dark Tranquility - Construct 

Overall a really enjoyable album, with the construction of the songs each being heavy and with a strong foundation. The mix of clean and harsh vocals on top of the atmosphere they've created which for me mirrors that of the cold winter, matched wonderfully.

6. Deafheaven - Sunbather

As observations shows in quite a number of top album lists of the year, this one has made it's way over here as well. I apologize if you are sick of seeing it everywhere and calling it "hipster metal", but I find this to be a very enjoyable work that I can listen to again and again.

What I really love about this album is the overall atmosphere that is created and expanded upon, being very similar to that of Alcest's work (now I am a huge fan of Alcest, so I absolutely love that); they even have Neige providing spoken word vocals on "Please Remember".

5. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty 

This is certainly a gorgeous album; from the overall atmosphere, song structures, instrumentation, and sound of her voice. It's as if a listen through were like crushing pretty big on the music she makes.





 

4. Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves

In this album, Riverside has managed to pay tribute to 70's prog while maintaining their core sound and creating a work which is on par with their Reality Dream Trilogy. This takes a lot of ideas and influences, and brings them forward with their own unique twist.

3. Vaura - The Missing

A fantastic genre-melding experience which can easily be listened to on repeat again and again. The atmosphere of this album is leaving off where their last album Selenelion left off, which is a very unique blend of soundscapes and both clean and harsh vocals. I highly recommend listening to this and experiencing the wonderful sounds this band has created.

2. Kayo Dot - Hubardo 
 
A massive work, spanning over 100 minutes of avant-garde beauty. This is truly an immense album which takes several listens to fully absorb, but it is worth every moment of it.

In addition to the amazing music of this album, the way it released was fantastic. I ended up getting the deluxe edition, triple-vinyl (swirl) signed by the band, hand-bound The Sword of Satan multi-chapter poem, that also came with a shirt, sticker, and pick. Beautifully packaged and worth every penny, it is overall a fantastic way to present this music.

1. Sigur Rós - Kveikur

Their darkest and heaviest album, where they now explore new and more metallic sounds. I'm actually really surprised as to how I haven't really seen this album on too many "top 10" lists, but here we are of it reaching the top of mine.

I love everything about this album, from the new turn of direction that they are going in, to their use of the brass and strings layered inside of their sound, an the overall structure of each song. This album keeps their core sound, but has a much heavier, darker, with a more metallic and percussive sound to it.

Several of these I had previously done album reviews of if you are interested, and there are still a few from here that I intend to do reviews of (in addition to what's been released so far of 2014 albums).
I was originally going to include (as I had last year), the list of albums that I had listened to in addition to my top choices so you can get a reference point from where I am choosing these. However since this past year was rather long, which is great because that means I got to listen to a ton of new music this year, it's just going to take up a ton of space where I don't think anyone would be going through it. Instead here are some runner up albums (these making the list really a top 15), as well as a few other runner ups.

15. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
14. Gris - À l’Âme Enflammée, l’Äme Constellée…
13. Optic - Iris In
12. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing
11. Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen
Other albums to note:
Atoms for Peace - Amok | Beastmilk – Climax | Carcass - Surgical Steel | CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe | Ghost - Infestissumam | Gorguts - Colored Sands | Tim Hecker - Virgins | Karnivool - Asymmerty | Leafblade - The Kiss of Spirit and Fles | Leprous - Coal | LowCityRain - LowCityRain | Rosetta - The Anaesthete | Tomahawk - Oddfellows | Ulver - Messe I.X - VI.X 

There were so many fantastic albums released in 2013, and so far there have been several amazing ones released in 2014. I know this was a bit late of a post for a "top 10" list considering it's already July, but whatever.

Tension Marks

The first new Nine Inch Nails album released since 2008's The Slip, Hesitation Marks brings back the NIN that we all know and love. I don't think it's any secret for how much I love Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor's work, so this album was highly anticipated for me. It is also pretty much a dream come true to be getting to see NIN live, which was the case with seeing them at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.

Nine Inch Nails - Barclays Center; October 14, 2013

First off, I have been waiting many years to see this band live. Trent Reznor is one musician who I highly look up to and find extremely inspirational so again, finally seeing him and NIN live is live a dream come true. Now with this expectations set, they did not disappoint in the slightest; they were fucking amazing.

One thing that really stood out about this show was just how much raw emotion Trent brought to the music. There was just so much energy that was in their performance on stage. I had seen some live videos of the upcoming live release Nine Inch Nails: Tension 2013, and the energy in this performance was so much more than those videos. I in no way mean to knock those recordings, I plan on getting it when it's released, but just to put into perspective just how phenomenal the performance at the Barclays Center was.

Musically everything sounded fantastic, and venue wise compared to where I sat for seeing Atoms for Peace this sound quality was much better. To clarify, for that show I was off to the right in section 209 a few rows from the ceiling basically in front of a speaker, and for this concert I was closer to the center ad lower in section 213. So with this venue it matters where you are for how the overall sound quality will be.

The setlist for the show was as follows:
01. Copy of A | 02. 1,000,000 | 03. Terrible Lie | 04. March of the Pigs | 05. Piggy | 06. All Time Low | 07. Disappointed |  8. Came Back Haunted | 09. Find My Way | 10. The Frail | 11. The Wretched | 12. Satellite | 13. In Two | 14. Survivalism | 15. Running | 16. A Warm Place | 17. Somewhat Damaged | 18. Wish | 19. Burn | 20. The Hand That Feeds | 21. Head Like a Hole

Encore: 22. The Day the World Went Away | 23. Even Deeper | 24. While I'm Still Here | 25. Black Noise | 26. Hurt 

Aside from the energy and the music aspect of the performance (both being amazing), the visuals were stunning. Utilizing somewhat of a screen in front of the band for certain lighting effects, as well as the background, it looked fantastic. Over two months later and I'm still giddy from getting to see them live, and just how amazing they where in every aspect of the show. If you can see them live, go immediately, it's something I'll never forget (and hope to experience again).

Hesitation Marks
This album returns to the same feel of NIN as their older albums, but now approaching the music almost as through taking in all that life's brought them so far. It starts off with "The Eater of Dreams", which works as an intro that in a way reminds me of how "Pinion" leads into the EP Broken.  The track listing  that follows this introduction is; "Copy of A", "Came Back Haunted", "Find My Way", "All Time Low", "Disappointed", "Everything", "Satellite", "Various Methods of Escape", "Running", "I Would for You", "In Two", "While I'm Still Here", and "Black Noise."

The whole album is just really grooving out, and you can tell by the music that Trent is in a lot better place in his life than compared to previous albums. Now while musically that does not necessarily make some better that others, that's up to personal preferences, but it is an interesting observation to make when listening. What I'm really getting at with this is that Hesitation Marks is an enjoyable album that you can easily reply again and again, so with that I highly recommend giving it a listen.

The deluxe edition came with a second disc with the following remixes; "Find My Way" (Oneohtrix Point Never Remix), "All Time Low" (Todd Rundgren Remix), and "While I'm Still Here" (Breyer P-Orridge 'Howler' Remix).

Hesitation Marks was released in four different versions, each with their own unique cover artwork which was done by Russel Mills. The pieces used for the covers consisted of "Cargo In The Blood" for the deluxe CD version, "Time And Again" for the standard CD, "Turn And Burn" for the digital version, and "Other Murmurs" for the vinyl. You can see these, listed (clockwise) as shown below. You can see all four versions of the cover artork along with a description to read from Mills here.

Hesitation Marks does something very unique, and that is how there are two different masters of the album. The standard version which can be heard on all the physical copies and downloaded from iTunes or similar providers, and the audiophile mastered version that is solely from the official NIN site. There is an interesting photo set here on tumblr, which shows the audio spectrum of the "audiophile mastered" version of the album. Now at the moment I have not listened to the files for the audiophile mastered version, but I do hope to change that in the future so that I can fully experience the various aspects of this fantastic album.

Now if you would like to read another point of view regarding the album, I would recommend reading this excellent review done by one of my friends.

Concerts to Journey Through Emotions

September, this month I got to see some of my favorite bands. Now when I say concerts which journey through emotions, I really mean how deeply some of the music performed has connected with me.

Anathema / Alcest - Gramercy Theater; September 14, 2013

When I first heard of this tour, and first heard rumor of this tour, I thought it was just too good to be true. Due to this fantastic line up, the concert was to no surprise, sold out. The opening act for this show was Mamiffer, who were an ambient/drone band that I think set a nice mood up for the rest of the concert to follow.

Mamiffer is actualy comprised of former Isis guitarist Aaron Turner, and his wife Faith Coloccia. Together they had a very interesting sound, between her vocals, bowed guitar, and looping themselves which all blended very nicely.
Their set had each song really flow into the next;
01. Rusal'e | 02. Dead Settlers | 03. Mercy | 04. Austejá

I absolutely love all of Alcest's work, and honestly their albums do not do them justice. Their performance was extremely beautiful and emotional, that while I completely love their albums all of that does not convey over a recording. One thing about Alcest, is that their music has the ability to connect so deeply with ones emotions, and can seriously help in feeling better if you are down.

Neige (Alcest)

Prior to heading to the concert, I was stressed for various reasons, one being someone who I had known passed away and their funeral was that morning. But their music really helped me feel so much better, that even more than any time I've listened to their albums. Hearing them live is just showing that recordings can not do them justice, and what fantastic musicians they are for conveying so much emotion through their music to entirely captive the cramped and sold out audience.

Every aspect of their set held the crowd's full attention, whether it be the earthly more post-rock aspects from songs off Les Voyages de l'Âme, or the heaver parts where you can't help but head-bang along to. Granted with through all of this the crowd was pretty tight, but everyone was chill and just flowed with the music through whichever mood it traveled through. Their set was the following:

Alcest

01. Autre temps | 02. Là où Naissent les Couleurs Nouvelles | 03. Les Voyages de l'Âme | 04. Opale | 05. Souvenirs d'un autre monde | 06. Beings of Light | 07. Sur l'océan couleur de fer | 08. Percées de Lumière | 09. Summer's Glory | 10. Deliverance

Two of the songs played were from their upcoming album Shelter, which after hearing I even more can not wait for its release. These songs were "Opale" and "Deliverance", which sounded absolutely fantastic. I keep re-watching a video recorded from the concert of "Opale" because it's just so beautiful; hearing those two songs live was a reminder of how much I am anticipating this album and am eager for its release. That song in particular is very warm and uplifting, where it almost transports you to another land (which is not unfamiliar for Alcest's music). Then they closed their set with the other new song, "Deliverance", which was just a nice way to conclude their older material they played with a note to look forward even more for what is to come.

Next Anathema was on, their first time as a whole band in the US in over ten years. Last time they were here, it was as support for Blackfield and only Vincent and Danny Cavanagh playing their songs acoustically. Granted they still had some problems with getting everyone overseas, unfortunately Jamie Cavanagh (bass) and John Douglass (drums) could not make it, so Daniel Cardoso (keyboards) moved on to drums and recommended Tobel Lopes to fill in on bass. All of that being said for what they had to accommodate, they put on a fantastic show.

Now with the [mostly] whole band, they played a lot off of Weather Systems, with a couple older songs as many of the fans in the audience have been waiting for over 10 years to see them live. During the set, they dedicated the song "Dreaming Light"* to both their manager [who was with them] and Steven Wilson for helping them get back on track.

Anathema

On stage the band had a lot of energy, mentioning how they are aware of how long some of the fans had waited to see them live. "I'll never forget this" was said on stage by Danny, and really I don't think anyone in the audience will forget it either. The set they played was the following:

[Intro] | 01. Untouchable, Part 1 | 02. Untouchable, Part 2 | 03. The Gathering of the Clouds | 04. Lightning Song | 05. Thin Air | 06. Dreaming Light | 07. Deep | 08. A Natural Disaster | 09. The Beginning and the End | 10. A Simple Mistake
Encore: | 11. Internal Landscapes | 12. Closer | 13. Fragile Dreams | [Outro] 

Several of the songs they played featured vocalist Lee Douglas who sounded amazing. Her vocals are very prominent on Weather Systems, and on stage they just come across fantastic with the band.

After the concert, since it was a relatively small venue a bunch of the guys in Anathema and Alcest were downstairs meeting and talking with fans. I still can't believe this happened, by which I mean getting to meet Neige from Alcest. Even though I was kind of [really] awkward, he was just extremely nice and polite, very chill to talk to people.

I also got to meet Vincent and Danny Cavanagh again, which was really cool. Talked to them a little bit, so that was just a nice way to end the concert. Now just to specify, the photo on the right is me with Neige, and happy beyond belief because of it. :)
I have to say this concert, Alcest's performance in particular, was one of the best concert's I've been to musically and just the emotional experience that was created with their music.

* If I remember correctly, this was the song that they dedicated to them, and unfortunately I did not catch the name of the manager who was on tour with them.

Atoms for Peace

Atoms for Peace - Barclays Center; September 28, 2013

The live sound of Atoms for Peace is really unique even when compared to their album AMOK. There performance brought in a whole new dimension to their music, and more so to the songs that they played off of Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser. The opening act for them was James Holden, who performed some really cool electronic music.

Throughout the performance Thom Yorke and Flea were dancing around the whole stage, and you could tell that the entire band just has so much energy that was brought through in the music. Even with having seats way high up (literally a couple rows from the ceiling), I had a great time. Happy to saw I've seen Thom Yorke live twice now, first with Radiohead at the Prudential Center last year, and now with Atoms for Peace.

Here is the set they played, and since I hadn't been looking into what they were playing on tour (I consider that to be a little bit of "spoilers"), I was pleasantly surprised with some of their songs:

01. Before Your Very Eyes... | 02. Default | 03. The Clock | 04. Ingenue | 05. Stuck Together Pieces | 06. Unless | 07. And It Rained All Night | 08. Harrowdown Hill | 09. Dropped | 10. Cymbal Rush

Encore: 11. Skip Divided | 12. Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses | 13. Rabbit in Your Headlights [UNKLE cover] | 14. Paperbag Writer [Radiohead cover] | 15. Amok
Encore 2: 16. Atoms for Peace | 17. Black Swan

Ten Years to Hubardo

Marking the 10 year anniversary of the avant-garde band Kayo Dot, is the release of their seventh studio album Hubardo. If you haven't purchased it yet, do that right now through their bandcamp, which also has three of the songs from the album up to stream. That being said, this album is a massive 100-minute work which words can hardly describe.

I was originally planning on waiting until my deluxe edition arrives, but I figure why wait, and maybe I may encourage someone to go out and order a copy before the physical release of it. The digital download of the album came with high quality images of the artwork which will be featured on the vinyl, as a PDF of the lyrics. If you got this and wanted to burn the loss-less audio files of the album onto CDs, the split would be between tracks 6 and 7 (x).

I should start off by saying that Kayo Dot is on of my favorite bands, so needless to say this album was one of the more anticipated and hyped albums of the year for me. That being said, it did not disappoint my expectations in the slightest.

The album begins with "The Black Stone", which starts off with menacing growled lyrics reminiscent of maudlin of the Well, and minimal accompaniment that gradually builds up. This leads up to the following song, "Crown-In-The-Muck".

"Thief" presents almost a mix of what Kayo Dot has done throughout their discography in a way that blends very nicely together. "Vision Adjustment to Another Wavelength" follows that, continuing with the same intensity. One of my favorite aspects of this song is the descending saxophone line at the beginning, as well as the transition to the slower tempo flute solo over the more minimal percussion.

"Zlida Caosgi (To Water the Earth)" is the following song, continuing more on the intense path. "The First Matter (Saturn in the Guise of Sadness)" starts off a lot more relaxed, and with clean vocals over the synthesizers and guitar/bass line. This is followed by what would be the start of the second half of the album "The Second Operation (Lunar Water)" which continues in the same style. I just completely love the blend of the instruments in this song, especially between the french horn, trumpet, and violin in the introduction. This blending continues into the addition of the vocal parts, which sound fantastic all together. "Floodgate" follows and goes back to focusing more on the intense aspects of their sound.



"And He Built Him a Boat" remains one of my favorite tracks on the album since they first released the stream of it before the actual release date. The combination of the vocal line Toby Driver sings, timbre of the guitar in this song particularity, choir in the background, and the nature of the drumming, it's really captivating. "Passing the River" is a song whose title is true to it's tone, as having a sound you can associate with a river with more calming aspects as well as intense. "The Wait of the World" closes the album with a more jazz-like groove. On a side note, I wish they had released a score for this album to follow along with (or for any of their albums really due to the nature of the band's music).

Hubardo has so much to take in, that still after several listens I know there is still so much more to hear. I think easily this is going to remain one of the top releases of the year, through the overall flow of the album to it's production value and musicianship. With that, I can not wait until the vinyls of this are printed/shipped to hear which I am sure will bring a whole new level to the experience of listening to this album.

Death By Audio, 4/28/12

I had gotten to see them live once last April at Death By Audio in Brooklyn, where they played with Vaura and Dysrhythmia. One thing I have to say about the venue is that inside it's a work of art. Every wall is covered with psychedelic murals, really trippy and I would love to visit there again if they have some band I might recognize.

When I saw them I believe they mostly played songs off of Gamma Knife, since at the time I hadn't heard that album and a lot of the material they played I did not recognize off hand. Unfortunately I have yet to find a set list posted somewhere online to list what they did play.. However as you would expect from Kayo Dot, it sounded fantastic. I really hope to see them live again next time they have a concert in the area that I can make.

If anything can be taken away from this review/writeup, let it be just that it is difficult to describe this album in words. This is a work that can really just be experienced through multiple listening(s), anything else would not do it justice.

May/June '13: Sabbath 13 | Crowds | State

Since I haven't been keeping up too much with the every other month uploading various album reviews of what's been released, here are some reviews of a few albums that came out recently.. Now these are brief, but I may expand upon them further later on. I just wanted to get some newer albums somewhat reviewed before I get swamped with class work for the semester.

Black Sabbath - 13

The much anticipated new Black Sabbath album, 13, with most of the original line up; Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Brad Wilk on drums (instead of Bill Ward). This is their first studio album since Forbidden which was released in 1995 (that I personally love and is sadly out of print), but even longer since the last studio album with Ozzy on vocals which was Never Say Die! in 1978.

The album closes with a perfect way of paying homage to the first album Black Sabbath that came out in 1970, ending with the same sort of thunderstorms which opened that album. The whole album really does not disappoint as far as Sabbath goes. If you have not heard it up, embrace your inner metal head (even if you are not one) and pick up a copy. I would also like to add, that from having access to a copy of the deluxe edition (while not mine), it is fantastic between the packaging, vinyl, and other artwork, really an excellent presentation for the music.

Bruce Soord & Jonas Renkse - Wisdom of Crowds

A very interesting collaboration between Bruce Soord (of The Pineapple Thief) and Jonas Renkse (of Katatonia). The music written by Soord specifically with Renkse's voice in mind, brings the electronic alternative rock elements similar to that of The Pineapple Thief to the voice that is known to bring the sorrowful gloom of emotions from Katatonia.

This album is really a lot more than just that though, since it differs so much from each musicians main bands. The sound that they bring to this album is really unique, and even if you are unfailiar with either of their main band, I would just recommend picking this up and giving it a listen.


TesseracT - Altered State

The second album from them, now having a new vocalist Ashe O’Hara, who for the album does entirely clean vocals. On their previous album One, there was a mix of both clean and harsh vocals which blended nicely with their sound, but while still maintaining that they continue on with solely clean. It proves to be a solid follow up to their first release, so if you were into their sound before I would recommend continuing to follow them with their new singer



There are obviously many other fantastic albums that have came out so far this year that I have not reviewed, but I may do more reviews of those later on, or save such reviews for when I do my top 10 albums of 2013. I've already started listing the new albums I have listened to so far this year, and noting the ones that have really stood out to me. Although I do expect to do many more of certain upcoming albums at least, especially those which are for me at least, highly anticipated (and since listening to some of them they do not disappoint in the slightest).

Also, expect to see a few more concert reviews at the end of the month because I am seeing some amazing bands that I can not wait for (same for October, as well as another voyage to the New York Comic Con). Possibly also a post on some of my vinyl collection and my parents collection from the 70's, but that would probably wait until after the album/concert write ups due to time constraints of the semester.

Summer Concerts '13

This summer I got to see quite a few concerts; Tomahawk, Rush, Yes, Wintersun, and some rather cool local bands. All these concerts being on top of my own I got to perform in due to being in my town's community band, so quite a musical summer.

Poster by Tara McPherson (x)

 Tomahawk - Bets Buy Theater; June 2, 2013

This was the first time I got to see any of Mike Patton's projects live, and it was just fantastic. The opening act was Buke and Gase, who played their custom hybrid instruments. They had a really unique sound, and the whole crowd seemed to really enjoy hearing them perform.

01. Houdini Crush | 02. Hiccup | 03. Your Face Left Before You | 04. Misshaping Introduction | 05. My Best Andre Shot | 06. Fussrate | 07. Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard | 08. Sleep Gets Your Ghost | 09. Cyclopean | 10. Tending the Talk

As would be expected, when Tomahawk went on they sounded fantastic. As part of their Oddfellows tour, they played a decent amount off the album, but also having a good amount of songs varying from their other albums as well.

01. Mayday | 02. Flashback | 03. Oddfellows | 04. 101 North | 05. Stone Letter | 06. Birdsong | 07. Rape This Day | 08. Capt. Midnight | 09. I.O.U. | 10. White Hats / Black Hats | 11. God Hates a Coward | 12. South Paw | 13. Point and Click | 14. Rotgut | 15. Laredo
Encore: 16. Totem | 17. Just One More (George Jones cover)
Encore 2: 18. How Low Can a Punk Get (Bad Brains cover)

Tomahawk @ Best Buy Theater, 6/2/13

Rush - Jones Beach; June 23, 2013

This was my first time getting to see Rush live, as part of their Clockwork Angels Tour, and wow they were amazing. They played for three hours, split between two sets and an encore. For the second set they played most of Clockwork Angels with an additional 8-piece string ensemble performing with them.

Rush @ Jones Beach, 6/23/13

Their whole set sounded fantastic, with a wide range of songs from throughout their discography. The addition of the string ensemble really added a fantastic new element to the sound of their songs. I really just loved the whole thing, and hope to see them live again in the future.

Set 1: 01. Subdivisions | 02. The Big Money | 03. Force Ten | 04. Grand Designs | 05. Middletown Dreams | 06. Territories | 07. The Analog Kid | 08. The Pass  | 09. Where's My Thing? (including drum solo) | 10. Far Cry
Set 2 (with Clockwork Angels String Ensemble): 11. Caravan | 12. Clockwork Angels | 13. The Anarchist | 14. Carnies | 15. The Wreckers | 16. Headlong Flight (including drum solo) | 17. Halo Effect (guitar solo intro) | 18. Wish Them Well | 19. The Garden | 20. Dreamline | 21. Drum Solo (The Percussor) | 22. Red Sector A | 23. YYZ (exit Clockwork Angels String Ensemble) | 24. The Spirit of Radio
Encore: 25. Tom Sawyer | 26. 2112 Part I: Overture | 27. 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx | 28. 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale  

One last thing I forgot to mention, as the nature of the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach being outside, and the timing of this concert, we pretty much had a perfect view of the "super moon" that was taking place. Granted there where times when the clouds would block it, but for the most part could see it above the stage set up where Rush was playing. Just something neat that added to the whole experience of the concert.

Yes - NYCB Theatre at Westbury; July 31, 2013

For this show, Yes performed three of their albums each in their entirety which were Close To the Edge, Going For The One, and The Yes Album. The nature of the venue I saw them in is that it is relatively small, with a circular stage in the center and seats surrounding that. Now this stage can spin, which it did while Yes performed, so that way as the show went on they would be facing each part of the audience.

After the show we stuck around a little bit, my mom wanted to see if there was any chance in getting her programs from the 70's signed, and after a bit of waiting that happened! So she got Steve Howe and Alan White to sign her programs, since she had seen them back in '74 and '76. We also met Jon Davison, and all three of them had signed our tickets as well. So on top of seeing a great concert, getting to meet some of the guys in the band was an added bonus.

Wintersun - Irving Plaza; August 8, 2013

Now while formed in 2004 instead of as earlier as the other bands I'll talk about here, still considered by many including myself legends. Wintersun performed at Irving Plaza on their first US headlining tour with Starkill, Arsis, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Unfortunately due to running late and missing the train, by the time my brother and I arrived at the venue we had just missed both Starkill and Arsis.

We did get to hear Fleshgod Apocalypse and they put on a really good show. A nice blend of heavy technical death metal, symphonic metal, and don't forget some operatic singing incorporated with the harsh vocals. Naturally I ended up picking up a copy of their album Labyrinth which also sounds fantastic.

Their set was the following: 01. Temptation | 02. The Hypocrisy | 03. Minotaur (The Wrath of Poseidon) | 04. The Deceit | 05. The Violation | 06. Elegy | 07. The Egoism | 08. The Forsaking  

After the concert I was made aware that apparently the concert I had seen was a sold out show. They deserve it, Wintersun and Fleshgod Apocalypse (I'm sure the same applies to the first two bands) each put on a killer set. Hopefully this will mean they might extend the tour with more dates. *crosses fingers*

01. When Time Fades Away | 02. Sons of Winter and Stars | 03. Land of Snow and Sorrow | 04. Beautiful Death | 05. Darkness and Frost | 06. Time | 07. Death and the Healing | 08. Battle Against Time | 09. Beyond the Dark Sun | 10. The Way of the Fire | 11. Starchild  

Have to say that seeing Wintersun live completely blew me away. I had been familiar with both their albums for a while and just experiencing it live was a whole different thing. On top of sounding fantastic musically, the whole bad just has a ton of energy on stage which just goes to the crowd. Everyone in the venue was just so into their songs, and there were points where the crowd was singing louder than Jari. Their performance was really just such a great experience to be in from all ways of looking at it.

One treat of the evenings performance was getting to hear a song off of the upcoming album Time II, "The Way of the Fire". From hearing this, needless to say I can't wait to hear the whole album. Wintersun also had played through all of Time I throughout the concert, as well as some songs from their first album. Now I just have to say,  if you see Wintersun is having a concert in your area, I would highly recommend going as you will not be disappointed in the slightest amount.

Optic @ Even Flow, 8/17/13

Even Flow Bar & Grill; August 17, 2013
Out in Bay Shore aw a really cool show of some local bands; Harmonic Dissonance, SarGasm, Optic, and Two Cent Sam. I have seen SarGasm once before, and Optic multiple times previous so as expected they sounded great. SarGasm did some cover songs and I think some originals, and Optic performed some songs from their upcoming full length album Iris In. Harmonic Dissonance I had been meaning to see for a while, and they also put on a great performance so I'll try to see them again at some point. Now so far each of the bands that performed were metal in one way or another, and the last band Two Cent Sam was no (maybe more on the indie side), but they sounded great as well. I didn't end up staying for their whole set since I was sick and at that point in the night not feeling too well and needed to head home, but I heard most of it and they did a good job.

Sigur Rós at the Garden with Kveikur

Sigur Rós have returned with a world tour and a new, darker and more aggressive sound, and I loved every moment of it. This having been my first time seeing them live, it was an amazing experience I don't think I'll forget.

Poster by Alan Hynes (x)

Madison Square Garden, March 25 2013
Noted by the band to be the biggest show of their career so far (in the U.S.), given to the very lucky audience who attended the sold out show. I've read a couple posts on the concert saying how their performance really made the garden feel like an intimate venue, and I have to say that really captures the atmosphere Sigur Rós created. Watching and listening to them perform, it didn't feel like you where in a massive 20,000 capacity venue, instead feeling like you where just close by. It really was an amazing experience, both musically and visually.

The opening act was Tim Hecker, who provided a nice ambient/drone sound from behind the curtain Sigur Rós had set up. This sort of opening act reminded me of when I saw Steven Wilson on his Grace for Drowning tour at the Best Buy Theater when he had Bass Communion playing beforehand, to give an idea of how it was. Personally I thought his music worked great to listen to before Sigur Rós went on.

Now if you had ordered tickets for this tour, you would have received a free download of the Brennisteinn EP which included the songs "Brennisteinn", "Hryggjarsúla", and "Ofbirta". This gives a little insight into some of the new sound they are going towards, and who doesn't just want more music from this lovely band?

Once Sigur Rós started, their entire set was beyond amazing. Between the music, the visuals, and the overall atmosphere in the venue that they created, it was such an amazing experience. They started of the show with a curtain up surrounding the stage, which everyone was behind, that they projected images on and used the lighting inside to create other visual effects. There would be points where they used the inside light to make Jónsi appear to grow to great heights, to then back to normal. The same for how the light was angled on the other musicians inside.

01. Yfirborð | 02. Ný Batterí | 03. Vaka | 04. Hrafntinna | 05. Sæglópur | 06. Fljótavík | 07. E-bow | 08. Varúð | 09. Hoppípolla | 10. Með Blóðnasir | 11. Olsen Olsen | 12. Kveikur | 13. Festival | 14. Brennisteinn | Encore: 15. Glósóli | 16. Popplagið

In addition to the main band of Jónsi, Georg, and Orri, there was also some string, brass players, and an additional percussionist along with them. From what I could see, there were the three string players, a trombonist, french horn, and trumpet, all of which also doubled on backing vocals when needed. Even in the size of the garden with the band, you could hear them so clearly, and it really added to the whole atmosphere they had going.

Every moment of the concert I was just in awe of the music that was being played, I can not get over how fantastic of a live experience they were. It is no surprise that they sold out the Garden.

Every song they performed was with so much emotion, and just listening to them where their set to me was just perfect. The videos they used with each song, either projected behind them or on the curtain in front of them before it dropped, was stunning and matched exactly.

They closed with one of my favorite songs, "Popplagið" which is just such an emotion experience on album, hearing it live is a whole different and amazing experience. If you ever get the chance to see them live, I would highly recommend it, as I really hope to see them live again one day.

Kveikur
This album overall for me is one of their releases that is more notable, and up there with some of my other favorites from them such as Takk.. and ( ). They have described it as being "more aggressive" than their previous releases, and it is but still maintaining their core distinctive sound. Already I am thinking how I would not be surprised at all if this ends up being one of my favorite albums this year.

The album opens with the powerful, memorable, and beautiful song, "Brennisteinn". This is followed by "Hrafntinna" which continues with the really interesting percussion and also now starting to have more presence of the brass with the lovely ending at the end.

"Ísjaki" was the second song released from the album, and is the song that has Sigur Rós' first lyric video. I think this song is really upbeat, and just really fun to listen and jam out to. "Yfirborð" follows that, which starts out with a sound more reminiscent of their previous work, It then picks up a bit and keeps alternating.
"Stormur" is follows that, and then the title track "Kveikur". This song is more similar to the aggressive aspects of the first track "Brennisteinn", with Jónsi's falsetto vocals over the distorted guitar, bass and percussion elements.

"Rafstraumur" is another really great song off the album that is just really enjoyable to listen to, which is then followed by "Bláþráður". The album closes with "Var", which again goes back to the earlier sounds of Sigur Rós' previous works, with a beautiful and ambient sound with some piano being played over.