What albums did you listen to today?

TeleStrat wrote: Wow, that would be a great show. Maybe things will work out so you will be able to go. I think L'Ira Del Baccano could be considered borderline Heavy Prog already.  Although some of the genre purists  around here might argue that point.

It's on a Sunday night and a few hours away from home. Besides, the night before there'll be Astrodome, Earth Drive and that other weird band from yesterday, nearby. 

^^  Yeah, the Astodome / Earth Drive concert would be a good choice. Two out of three is not bad and maybe the weird band will open so that they're out of the way quickly.

Pavement - "Slanted and Enchanted"
Pavement - "Watery, Domestic"
Bobby Dazzlers - "Champion EP"
Yo La Tengo - "Painful"
clipping. - "Wriggle"
Kayo Dot - "Plastic House on Base of Sky"
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - "Piñata"

Henry Cow - Legend. Because this is highly likely one of my favorite albums of all time, I often go back and revisit this outstanding work. Every listen reveals new little details hidden in the mix. A bunch of outstanding musicians playing complex, demanding material. Love the album!
Neu! - Neu! After my disappointment with Neu! 2, I revisited their debut album to once again get a great impression of their music. Similarly to my previous listen, the album reveals many new elements with each listen. The minimalism of the work really hits me every time. There is something incredibly fresh about Neu!'s music on their debut.
Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh. I've only recently discovered how great and fascinating the music of Magma is. Believe it or not, I find that the things I like in their music are similar to things I love in my favorite prog subgenre - the Canterbury sound. The mix of tasty jazz-rock and "primal", gothic choir elements fructify in something extremely interesting and (once again I'll use that word, duuh) fresh. I still fail to detect the "wow" factor there and something that will hook me to their music, but so far so good! Really like Magma!
Magma - Kobaia. In comparison to MDK, the music on this album is a bit more boring, being nothing but straight-up jazz rock... Or not... There are some eccentric moments, reminiscent of Vander's musical vision and fantasy. Great music and definitely more accessible than MDK. I feel though that it is a bit boring at times, being a double album.
Gilgamesh - Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into. I'm afraid this is not a very fine tune. Ok, it's better than their debut, but Gilgamesh is one of those bands that despite having interesting and professionally-played material are just quite uninteresting. Take Canterbury music and take away every spice. It's just a bit sterile! Overally pretty enjoyable, but there is just something that makes me go like this:

DeadSouls wrote: National Health - National Health Egg - The Polite Force King Crimson - Red Camel - Camel Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick

#1, #2, and #4 are (for me) a dream playlist! Well done!

Thursday...

Meltdowner wrote: ALotOfBottle wrote: Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh. I've only recently discovered how great and fascinating the music of Magma is. Believe it or not, I find that the things I like in their music are similar to things I love in my favorite prog subgenre - the Canterbury sound. The mix of tasty jazz-rock and "primal", gothic choir elements fructify in something extremely interesting and (once again I'll use that word, duuh) fresh. I still fail to detect the "wow" factor there and something that will hook me to their music, but so far so good! Really like Magma! Magma - Kobaia. In comparison to MDK, the music on this album is a bit more boring, being nothing but straight-up jazz rock... Or not... There are some eccentric moments, reminiscent of Vander's musical vision and fantasy. Great music and definitely more accessible than MDK. I feel though that it is a bit boring at times, being a double album. The first album I listened from them was MDK and I didn't like them until I listened to Kobaia. I had to start with more accessible albums before moving on to the later stuff. By the way, what do you think of 1001º Centigrades? Ash Ra Tempel - Le Berceau de Cristal L'Ira del Baccano - Terra 42 Gypsy Sun Revival - s/t The Astroboy - The Chromium Fence Memória de Peixe - s/t Handwrist - Agrestic Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook - The Dark Side of the Moog III

Meltdowner wrote: ALotOfBottle wrote: Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh. I've only recently discovered how great and fascinating the music of Magma is. Believe it or not, I find that the things I like in their music are similar to things I love in my favorite prog subgenre - the Canterbury sound. The mix of tasty jazz-rock and "primal", gothic choir elements fructify in something extremely interesting and (once again I'll use that word, duuh) fresh. I still fail to detect the "wow" factor there and something that will hook me to their music, but so far so good! Really like Magma! Magma - Kobaia. In comparison to MDK, the music on this album is a bit more boring, being nothing but straight-up jazz rock... Or not... There are some eccentric moments, reminiscent of Vander's musical vision and fantasy. Great music and definitely more accessible than MDK. I feel though that it is a bit boring at times, being a double album. The first album I listened from them was MDK and I didn't like them until I listened to Kobaia. I had to start with more accessible albums before moving on to the later stuff. By the way, what do you think of 1001º Centigrades?

Believe it or not, I think 1001º Centigrades appears to be their most inspired album. I think all of the Kobaian elements are balanced really well. By far, my favorite from Magma (I think)!

I think I won't listen to music anymore today, so I will just check-in a bit earlier than usually.
Neu! - Neu! '75. Now we are talking! After my utter disappointment with Neu! 2, Neu! '75 was a very pleasant suprise. It had some really good moments. And while it's full of innovation and qualities that sound fresh even these days, the classic Neu! elements such as motorik beat passages are by no means estranged! Way ahead of its time.
The Muffins - <185>. In comparison to Muffins' debut album (which I am a giant fan of), <185> delivers a less straight-forward avant-garde punch, reminiscent of the Rock In Opposition movement. The band got a little bit of help from Fred Frith of Henry Cow and many more and I think that only adds to the RIO flavor of the release. Albeit not very memorable, it is undoubtedly a great work of great musicians.
Zacht Automaat - Normality Bias. This band is my latest discovery and I am really glad I've found out about them. They are a rather obscure Canadian group that fuses Canterbury-style jazz with (more prominently) electronic krautrock, very much in the vein of earlier Tangerine Dream. There is something really raw about their recordings, but it's really good and original music. I highly recommend checking them out. One of these days I'll be suggesting their addition to this website, as (in my opinion) they would fit in Progressive Electronic of Jazz-Rock/Fusion quite well.
Tim Blake - Crystal Machine. It was the review of Modrigue that made me want to check out Tim Blake's works, as he was responsible for my favorite shimmering sounds on albums by Gong and Hawkwind. His debut album has a great cover, but the music (in my book at least) is nothing to get really excited about. It's all spacey, electronic music, which is quite interesting, but in a long run does nothing to me really. Still, recommended!
Magma - 1001º Centigrades. I've revisited this album once more today, as I am only beggining to get hip with Zeuhl. This listen confirmed everything that I've said earlier today on here. I feel like 1001º Centigrades even has somewhat of a Third-era Soft Machine-like piquancy (Zeuhl fans will kill me for that comparison). Hard to follow, but very rewarding and enjoyable. Really, really liking this work and Magma in general.
Golem - Orion Awakes. This is one of those albums that found itself on one of the krautrock samplers, making everyone thing that it was produced back in 1973 (as it was claimed to be)... While it wasn't. Orion Awakes was recorded in 1996 and features wild psychedelic krautrock, dripping with wah-wah-ed guitar, distorted keyboards and heavy rhythms. Enjoyable, but once again nothing to get all that excited about, at least for me.
Soft Machine - Live in Paris 1970. This is actually a concert, but I guess that counts. Soft Machine was steamin' right there! Exactly what I like about their music from that period - inspired, vigorous, coming far from being sterile jazz noodlings. Really nice!

So, that was my day!

The Velvet Underground - "The Complete Matrix Tapes" disc 4
Blue Öyster Cult - "Fire of Unknown Origin"
The Velvet Underground - s/t
The Velvet Underground - "White Light / White Heat"
Lou Reed - "Berlin"
The Velvet Underground - "VU"