Botanist

Floor, “Downed Star”

There’s a longing feel to a lot of Floor, an almost wistful tint to the vocal style. When it’s married to the thrumming music, it’s a fun combination.

Beastie Boys, “5-Piece Chicken Dinner”

I love Paul’s Boutique, but this is just a goof out-of-context. OK, it’s a goof in-context also, but it makes sense with the album sequence.

Pyrrhon, “Goat Mockery Ritual”

Oh hell yeah. One of my favorite metal bands, Pyrrhon takes death metal and adds so much dissonance and spastic experimentation that it can sometimes seem overwhelming. I think at some point, it’s gone so far that my expectations are just shot. I don’t know what’s coming next, so I can just relax and revel in the twitchy glory of this whole thing. It’s hard to pick a favorite album from them, you can’t go wrong with any of the three most recent LPs.

Negativland, “Announcement”

You know what? We’re trying it again today!

Keep of Kalessin, “Dark Divinity”

Better! WE DID IT, FOLKS

All You Can Eat, “Family Matters”

Long forgotten Bay Area punk band, they put out a couple albums in the early 90s and then disappeared. I’d characterize their sound as, uh, early 90s Bay Area punk. It’s fine, I listened to a ton of these bands at this time and a lot of them were pretty undifferentiated. This band included.

American Music Club, “Nightwatchman”

Speaking of night watchmen, we watched Night at the Museum with the kids last night, and I was kind of pleasantly surprised that the effects didn’t look too janky. I mean, sure, the whole premise was ridiculous, but I thought there was a good chance that it was going to look so stupid as to totally jar me out of things. But no, held up just fine as a family movie.

Botanist, “Nourishing the Fetus (Mandragora IV)”

This is from the third Botanist album, helpfully labeled IV: Mandragora. There’s a I and a III, I just don’t know what happened to II. Down the memory hole, I guess! The next album is a VI. Who knows?

King Crimson, “I Talk To The Wind”

I didn’t really pay much attention to King Crimson for a long time, mostly because the dude I knew in college who was into King Crimson was way, way too into them. So, I just kind of ignored them, just sort of picking up little bits about them. I think I was surprised by how quiet a bunch of In The Court of the Crimson King was when I finally heard it. It really wasn’t at all what I was picturing. It turns out I was really kind of picturing Discipline, but I didn’t realize it yet.

The Queers, “From Your Boy”

We’ve been over this, but it’s been a while: yes, this is shameless Ramones worship. Yes, it’s incredibly sophomoric. Yes, you can do much better.

The Decemberists, “Rox in the Box”

After The Hazards of Love, the Decemberists stepped back from the increasingly elaborate prog-folk thing they had going on and made a much more straightforward folk-rock album with The King is Dead. As a fan over that super ornamented stuff, I found the record a bit of a disappointment. It’s pleasant enough, and I’m not sorry to listen to it, but it’s not one I seek out often.

Took a little break there. No worries, we’re back in business!

Wiccans, “Pageantry”

I mentioned last time that Wiccans kind of sound like an old Amphetamine Reptile act, and they really do. This kind of sounds like maybe old Cows, or perhaps something like the Cosmic Psychos.

UFO Or Die, “Kendo Machine Smokin'”

Well, uh, that’s a thing, huh?

Botanist, “Gleditsia”

The closer to VI: Flora, this is the coda to an excellent album, but this song doesn’t have a lot to say.

Maybe the most dangerous of the year-end roundups is Bandcamp’s, which always results in a lot of stuff for me. As for today’s music, well, I really like two of today’s songs an awful lot. The other three are a little…slapdash, let’s say.

The Skatalites, “Wood and Water”

We get a lot of third-wave ska acts around here, and usually, we make fun of them. Or, at least, a good percentage of them. We get enough of them that maybe a quick refresher is worth our time? When we talk about waves of ska bands, we’re referring to:

METAL WOOOOO \m/ \m/ \m

Deathspell Omega, “Sola Fide I”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Deathspell Omega turn out to be Nazi shitheads, and you should not in any way patronize them. I’m leaving the original text here, but fuck these guys.

One of the attractions of extreme metal is the virtuosity that bands can display. A talented band like Deathspell Omega can really make you wonder exactly how they can manage to create that kind of racket. But it’s not just the spectacle with this band. Deathspell Omega is incredibly adept at evoking a mood, and they create songs that go to very interesting places. This track, from Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice (“if you seek his monument, look around”, from an inscription on the grave of Sir Christopher Wren inside St. Paul’s Cathedral), is a good example of the drama that they can create within a song.