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.

Sing to Me, Raven..

Steven Wilson - The Raven that Refused to Sing (and other stories)
First off, the more time I listen to this album the more it grows on me where I am really loving it. It is the third solo album from Steven Wilson, and his first release of 2013, and like many of his projects this had many versions to choose from. One I have access to (while sadly not mine, I have the CD/DVD version), is the 4 disc deluxe edition which includes a 128 page book with lyrics and the ghost stories in which the album is based upon. The artwork for this album was done by Hajo Mueller, but included on the blu-ray and DVD is a studio documentary by long collaborating artist to Wilson, Lasse Hoile.

Following the Grace For Drowning Tour, Wilson used the same band he got together of technical musicians for TRTRTS. That band consisted of Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan, Adam Holzman, Marco Minnemann, and Theo Travis. Getting together such technical musicians allows for complicated parts, that just listening to you can tell they where just enjoyable parts to play. In addition to how each part layers with each other, the individual parts themselves are just really intriguing. The concept behind the album, is that the songs are based upon various ghost stories. There is a track-by-track interview with Steven Wilson on the concept and stories behind each song off the album on musicradar to read.

Unlike Wilson's other albums, this was recorded live in the studio with him just adding the vocals later on. This would really explain how the songs just flow really well, and sound more natural. Now this album does have a 70's prog vibe (which I think sounds great and done in such a way that works great though I know some people weren't wanting to hear that), but even if that's not your thing you can't deny the musicianship presented in this album.

"Luminol" opens the album, and has sections that really are just like a complete prog jam. It was first released to listen to in September on the live album Get All You Deserve. "Drive Home" for me, gives off a Blackfield vibe for most of the song up until Govan's solo (though for me that's not a problem, just an observation).

"The Holy Drinker" is one of the songs that really stand out for me on the album. It has a great flow and just is fantastic, absolutely love it. "The Pin Drop" is another rather enjoyable song that nicely follows with the flow of the album.

"The Watchmaker" starts out with an intro of just Steven singing over an arpeggiated guitar, that then goes to a lovely flute solo, and then adding in the piano and guitar. Then after that it goes into a more progy section, with melotron and everything. Now the final track, "The Raven That Refused To Sing", is really just beautiful.

One thing overall I really like that was done throughout the album, was the combination of the saxophone and the guitar. Those two instruments created a really great blend when they were playing together, that created a really cool texture for whenever that was used. Raven has really grown on me a lot since I fist listened to it, while I still think out of Wilson's solo albums Grace for Drowning is my favorite, this is really up there with it. The most I listen to it, the more I hear things I hadn't on a prior listen, which really adds to the whole experience of the album for me.

The second disc of the deluxe edition consists of demos for the album, as well as one 'unused idea', "Clock Song". The DVD consists of the 5.1 mix of the album, with the blu-ray of the instrumental and one 'lounge version' of a song. The overall packaging of the album, similar to previous Wilson deluxe editions, is massive. Though the whole presentation of the album together is really a great piece of work; music, artwork, stories, and all.

Since I waited forever to actually post this, I may as well also mention the Record Store Day release that a certain S. Wilson had. That being, the "Luminol" and "Watchmaker" demos on a 12" picture disc vinyl. Now these demos are on the second disc of the deluxe edition, but getting to hear them from the vinyl is just fantastic. I do have to mention, the picture I have up of the record my special copy that I will cherish forever. That is because while I couldn't make Wilson's latest concert at the Best Buy Theater on 4/26, my family went and ended up meeting him. Since it was my birthday recently they asked him to sign "happy birthday" to me, and also got Nick Beggs, Theo Travis, and Guthrie Govan to sign it. I can't express just how much I appreciate and love this, and how amazing those guys are for doing that.

If you had gotten the deluxe edition it would have been well worth your money, and really any version of this album is. I would also highly recommend if you can get your hands on a copy of the March issue of Prog Magazine, to read the article in there on the album. It is really interesting to read what Steven's influences for the album where, how he went about recording it, the art direction, and just in general. A great read, plus there are also some other cool articles in there like one on Riverside (and more).

Prog Magazine, March 2013

Now I was originally going to post this with some other reviews of albums that came out in January/February, but since that is still not finished (apologies for procrastination) and this being a lot longer, I figured may as well give it it's own post. So hopefully soon the other reviews on AMOK, Vertikal, and Oddfellows will be up shortly! There will also be some other albums that have been released since (and concerts) to write about, many of which I meant to do months ago.

"..and how prog is that? (-;"

Since the release of Get All You Deserve I thought I would go back to this little something I was going to do a while ago, but finally have together to be a bit more cohesive.. Here shall be a little review, or maybe more of a general "talk" of the album trilogy between Opeth's Heritage, Steven Wilson's Grace For Drowning, and the much awaited Storm Corrosion. So while the trilogy has been out for a while, I still love it to bits and would like to have my little input on the whole thing up on these series of tubes..

The albums Grace For Drowning from Steven Wilson and Heritage by Opeth are both part of an unofficial trilogy, both of which were released in September of 2011. The final album in this trilogy is titled Storm Corrosion, which is a collaboration between Steven Wilson (most notable of Porcupine Tree) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (of Opeth) which was released in April. Both the first two albums of the trilogy play tribute to 70's progressive rock, such as bands like King Crimson and Jethro Tull.  This is especially true with songs such as "Raidar II", that have obvious influence from Crimson. Even lyrically, Heritage and Grace For Drowning have a darker tone than the albums preceding them (Watershed and Insurgentes, that were both released in 2008). The album covers for the three albums were done by Travis Smith, Lasse Hoile, and Hans Arnold, respective to the order of each release.

Heritage has been described by Steven Wilson as "... a kind of contemporary take on the darker side of seventies progressive music." While this album differs from most of their discography, it still maintains the distinct sound and style of Opeth. This is their second album where no harsh vocals are used at all, the first to do this being Damnation. Many people seemed to be surprised by the album due to this, but I find that it really doesn't sound too drastically different from what you might expect Opeth to do. Yes, it's no death metal album, but it has their core and distinct sound within each of the songs.

While the instrumentation used in Heritage isn't much different from their other albums, how they arranged and mixed it provided an obvious difference in their sound. The album presents itself as being less heavy than Opeth's previous albums, but somehow more melancholic. The track "Famine" draws many similarities to Jethro Tull with the use of flutter tonging in the flute, with a similar style to what Ian Anderson would use.

Grace For Drowning is a double album, disc one is titled Deform to Form a Star and disc two is Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye (as well as a third disc, The Map, included in the deluxe edition). Aside from the deluxe edition having a third disc and a blu-ray, it also has an amazing 120 page book of photographer Lasse Hoile's work

The songs go through a variety of styles, from a 20-minute epic that pays tribute to 70's prog, to the more electronic and modern. This track is of course "Raider II", which I have seen on tumblr described as;

“Raider II” just kinda reminds me of if King Crimson took too much acid and accidentally locked themselves in a dark room with Porcupine Tree’s The Incident playing on repeat in 5.1 surround sound // in other words it’s amazing

Which I have to agree with, because that song does have many references to King Crimson, particularly their album Lizard and it's opening song "Cirkus". Knowing Wilson's appreciation of Crimson, as well as his work on remastering their catalog for the 40th anniversary editions, this was done intentionally. The influence of Crimson, 70's prog, and jazz is very noticeable on the album, and even more so in live performance.

Now to the final piece of the trilogy, Storm Corrosion, which itself is different from Wilson's and Åkerfeldt's other works. Though going based on what they were discussing about the album before it's release, nothing to really completely shock people with. Overall the whole album is simply a beautiful, solemn, piece of work. The album actually has very little percussion in it, but what it does have is performed by Porcupine Tree's drummer Gavin Harrison.

As mentioned earlier, the cover art for this album is a painting by Swedish artist Hans Arnold. This was not created for the album as it was painted in 1969, but chosen by Åkerfeldt and Wilson to be the cover. I think taking this piece adds to telling how they are paying tribute to the progressive and avant-garde music, most notable of the 1970's.

Storm Corrosion while different in style, really unites Heritage and Grace For Drowning. Throughout the album, you hear partial quotes from different parts of the other two albums. 

"The album title came from reading stories and accounts of people who have had near-death experiences with drowning. They all say the same thing: They got a point where they stopped struggling where they reached a point of calm, of grace. I like Grace for Drowning as a metaphor for my life. I don’t really care anymore if I’m successful or if I’m going to be more successful than I am already. I’d still like to share my music with more people. But I’m not stressed about it. I’m making the best music I’ve ever made now because I feel totally liberated from trying to please anyone." ~ Steven Wilson

This quote more than anything really describes all three albums, being where Wilson (and Åkerfeldt) just go solely with what they want to create. Not having to to stress about how people may react to it, just making the music for themselves. With that sort of approach, you get the artists full heart and soul put into the work. Once you create a piece of art that you put 100% of your emotions and efforts into, typically you are going to end up with something truly beautiful. For me, that is the case with these three albums, each one amazing in their own way. There is also the great experience of just listening through each album, one after the other with no interruptions. Through that you can really notice the similarities between the albums, with quotes and attributes to take note of the others, and really notice more details than you would otherwise.

The complete trilogy.

Index

I'm going to start this off by saying that this is a Steven Wilson appreciation post. By that I shall be going into a discussion of the three times I have seen him live; Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, and his Grace for Drowning tour.
Steven Wilson is a huge inspiration to me, between just absolutely loving all his music, the vast amount of work he has been able to create, his musical integrity, and overall just all that he's accomplished are just mind blowing. He really is my idol, and if I ever get to meet him again I just want to tell him "thank you". For putting his work out there, being the nicest person to his fans, and just never stopping creating music.


Porcupine Tree - 9/24/10 Radio City Music Hall

For those who are unaware the Radio City show was one of two special shows for Porcupine Tree, the second being the show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. These shows were consisting of material that the band has not played in some time, and prepared specifically for those two special evenings.

The show itself consisted of three sets, plus an encore. As an audience we were graced with three wonderful hours of music provided by Porcupine Tree. While everyone would love for the shows that they go to be the ones that are recorded for official release, this show I feel really should have. Either Radio City or the Royal Albert Hall would be wonderful to have, so those of us who went could relive the moment and those who didn't experience a small fraction of it. But I do kind of understand how making a release of that would take away part of the special nature of those shows really being a once in a lifetime moment.

They opened the show by being their own opening act, playing the songs acoustically. Their first set consisted of the following:

01. Stranger By The Minute
02. Small Fish
03. Pure Narcotic
04. Black Dahlia
05. Futile

 This recording of "Stranger by the Minute" can give you an idea as to how we began the show..

This was another one of those shows that as the night went on, just got better and better. Below is a video from later on in the show, how they conclude the second set with "Bonnie the Cat".

I wish I could go back to that night just to see it all again.. But for your interest here we have below, the setlists of the rest of the show that night:

Second Set: 06. Even Less | 07. Open Car | 08. Lazarus | 09. Tinto Brass | 10. The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase One) | 11. I Drive the Hearse | 12. Bonnie the Cat


Third Set: 13. Occam's Razor | 14. The Blind House | 15. Great Expectations | 16. Kneel and Disconnect | 17. Drawing the Line | 18. Dislocated Day | 19. Time Flies | 20. Anesthetize | 21. Up the Downstair | 22. Sleep Together

Encore: 23. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

Really, for those people who traveled to see this I know it was worth it. For me going to the city is easy for concerts, you just have to hop a train, but if they did another show like this I would be willing to travel to another state just to see it. It really was amazing, and this being the first time I had seen Porcupine Tree live it was really special for me. Once they return to the studio or to tour, I know I shall be getting tickets to see them as soon as possible. Everyone in the band is such a fantastic musician, and from watching their performance you can tell they just loved playing the show.

Blackfield - 5/20/11 Irving Plaza

Tickets to this show was actually a birthday present from my parents, which was great. This was the first time I had seen Blackfield, as well as Anathema who was the opening act. Now it wasn't the entire band of Anathema because they weren't all able to make it to the US, so just Vincent and Danny Cavanagh playing acoustically. I have to say, they put on such a fantastic show.

Anathema's set from that night was as followed:
01. Thin Air
02. Deep
03. Angels Walk Among Us
04. Lost Control
06. Fragile Dreams
07. One Last Goodbye
08. Flying

Their acoustic performance was just beautiful with so much emotion put into each song. I really hope that they tour the US at some point in the near future so I can see them again, and get to see the whole band. But just meeting those two at the end of the show, they really were extremely nice. They almost seemed surprised that we were saying how much we loved their performance, but they were really great. They had even signed the special edition of We're Here Because We're Here that we bought right after the show. If you haven't listened to them yet, you really are missing out. Now this was when they were touring We're Here Because We're Here, which is fantastic, but make sure to check out their newest album Weather Systems. That album I would say is definitely one of the best released this year. I am hoping that following their current European tour that they come back to the states for a headlining tour of their own.

When Blackfield came on, they put on a great set. I was really close to the front for that show, and I was completely thrilled. The set they did for that night was the following:

01. Blood | 02. Blackfield | 03. Glass House | 04. Go to Hell | 05. Open Mind | 06. Pain | 07. DNA | 08. Waving | 09. 1,000 People | 10. Once | 11. The Hole in Me | 12. Miss U | 13. Zigota | 14. Epidemic | 15. Oxygen | 16. Where Is My Love? | 17. Dissolving with the Night
Encore: 18. Far Away | 19. Hello | 20. End of the World | 21. Cloudy Now

The whole concert was just amazing, and I had two nice added bonuses for that show. The first being I got one of Steven Wilson's picks. Now the second is even better.. as you can see to the right I got to meet Steven Wilson. Honestly I was really kind of star stuck since I love his music so I don't recall saying too much, but I did get a photo with him and he was kind enough to sign some stuff. Seriously, he was so nice to everyone who was there at the end I still can't get over it. I had also gotten to meet Aviv Geffen, who also took a picture with me, and Eran Mitelman. It was great, and I am looking forward to the next album and tour that they do, even if Steven Wilson isn't going to have as bi of a part in it.


Grace for Drowning Tour - 11/11/11 Best Buy Theater
This concert stands as one of the best shows I have seen. The amount of talent on that stage, was just completely mind blowing. I wish that it didn't have to end, because I loved every single second I was there. From the moment we got there where they had Bass Communion playing as the crowd walked in up until the beginning of the set, up until the last note.

Here is what the amazing setlist from that night was: 

01. No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun | 02. Index | 03. Deform to Form a Star | 04. Sectarian | 05. Postcard | 06. Remainder the Black Dog | 07. Harmony Korine | 08. Abandoner | 09. Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye | 10. No Part of Me | 11. Veneno Para Las Hadas | 12. Raider II
Encore: 13. Get All You Deserve

I really wish that I could have seen a second date of this tour, but I am very glad that I got to see it. Every second of this show was just amazing. I don't really have words for it, but I am looking forward to watching the Get All You Deserve blu-ray to sort of relive moments of the show.

"INDEX"

Now this over here is the third in a series that I plan to continue, which is to draw something to connect to a specific concert. This well, is taking the lyrics of the song "Index" and referencing the point in the show when Wilson got out the gas mask. If you are interested I do have this up on deviantART.

I hope that you have enjoyed this accumulated post on the various times I have seen Steven Wilson related projects live. Every single one was amazing in their own way.