I Defy Anyone on this Board...

[nothingman00]

...to listen to the new (2007) Alcest album, "Souvenirs d'un autre monde" and not consider it one of the best albums of last year.




I've mentioned it in a couple of threads, in passing, and encountered maybe two other people who have even heard of the "band" (actually just one person for the most part), much less heard the album, so I figured I'd start an entire thread about it. Think of the climaxes in Explosions in the Sky songs, but more powerful and prolonged over an entire album with astoundingly beautiful French vocals that somehow reinforce the power of the music even if you have no fucking clue what they're saying (like Sigur Ros in that regard). Ok, that's already too much information. I went into the album expecting nothing, but it came highly recommended by a friend. Now, I can't turn it off.

[Robototron]

I think I listened to this album once or twice and didn't really think it was that amazing? I deleted it off my PC, so presumably I thought it sucked. Pretty average doomgaze IIRC.

[canexplain]

...to listen to the new (2007) Alcest album, "Souvenirs d'un autre monde" and not consider it one of the best albums of last year.




I've mentioned it in a couple of threads, in passing, and encountered maybe two other people who have even heard of the "band" (actually just one person for the most part), much less heard the album, so I figured I'd start an entire thread about it. Think of the climaxes in Explosions in the Sky songs, but more powerful and prolonged over an entire album with astoundingly beautiful French vocals that somehow reinforce the power of the music even if you have no fucking clue what they're saying (like Sigur Ros in that regard). Ok, that's already too much information. I went into the album expecting nothing, but it came highly recommended by a friend. Now, I can't turn it off.


someone burned me a copy and i listened to it quite a bit .... those crazy french guys ... i was told that this cd is quite a bit different then their other cds, but i have not heard them .....ps nothingman00, you cant understand sigur ros lyrics because they are not real lyrics, or at least not a real language ... it was made up by the band ... canx**

[Tylerdurden31]

ps nothingman00, you cant understand sigur ros lyrics because they are not real lyrics, or at least not a real language ... it was made up by the band ... canx**

ah...Agaetis Byrjun was in "Hopelandic" the other albums was in icelandic i believe...but don't quote me on that

regarding Alcest....I find them to be fairly generic badly attempted post-rock...but hey...that's just like....my opinion maaaaaaaaaan

[canexplain]

ah...Agaetis Byrjun was in "Hopelandic" the other albums was in icelandic i believe...but don't quote me on that

regarding Alcest....I find them to be fairly generic badly attempted post-rock...but hey...that's just like....my opinion maaaaaaaaaan

i think you are right on sigur ros ... it didnt say anything on wika cept agaetis being in hopelandic ... i stand corrected .. i guess both my hopelandic and icelandic are just as bad :). canx**

[leo01g]

I have only heard one song and it sounds pretty amazing, I'll have to continue with the rest.

[wmgaretjax]

ah...Agaetis Byrjun was in "Hopelandic" the other albums was in icelandic i believe...

All of () was hopelandic and many parts of Takk... are also.

Hopelandic is a partially made up language. For all intensive purposes, it's used as giberish.

[nothingman00]

Robotron- You must be soulless. Only explanation... Seriously though, what exactly was your beef with the album? Tyler-How exactly was this "generic"? please point me to another album that better illustrates the genre of shoegaze/metal/post-rock (or "badly attempted post-rock"). I honestly think people on this mb just sound off on shit they haven't even listened to sometimes. Not you, Tyler, but quite a few of the fucks on here.
Seriously, Animal Collective release album after album of complete and utter turd-tunes, and there's a collective dick yanking fest on this board. That Alcest album was definitely top-10 of 2007 for me, though it begs to be listened to LOUD.

This board may lack soul, to tell you the truth... I'm losing faith in humanity one post at a time.

[Robototron]

Robotron- You must be soulless. Only explanation... Seriously though, what exactly was your beef with the album? Tyler-How exactly was this "generic"? please point me to another album that better illustrates the genre of shoegaze/metal/post-rock (or "badly attempted post-rock"). I honestly think people on this mb just sound off on shit they haven't even listened to sometimes. Not you, Tyler, but quite a few of the fucks on here.

Or I just listen to better music than this? Seriously, the other posts basically nailed it. This is really pretty boring and average and not much better than most other "shoegaze/metal/post-rock" I've heard (although most of what I've heard is just the really overrated Pitchfork crowd stuff, I'm not really into Doom or any of that).

Obviously I listened to it, or else it would still be on my PC, waiting to be listened to. It was recommended to me sometime last year and didn't even make a blip on my musical radar.

[thinnerair]

Hopelandic is a partially made up language. For all intensive purposes, it's used as giberish.


I always thought it was 'for all intents and purposes'

[i_like_cake530]

Listening to some of their songs right now on myspace, and im definitely liking it. now i want this album...

[wmgaretjax]

I'm 30 seconds into Ciel Errant and the chord progression sounds like a bad christian worship song.

the distrotion kicked in and it's pretty awful.

but this is all kind of premature. I'll give the whole CD a listen.

this sounds really bad though.

EDIT: "turd-tunes." How articulate. I've decided not to listen to the whole album after reading some of your comments. Skimming through the album not only is it soulless, it's regurgitated crap. The fact that you dismiss Animal Collective without any kind of valuable argument solidifies you lack any sense of forward thinking perspective in regards to music.

Wait... Weren't you going to stop posting here? Maybe you should stick to that... Oh, and I'll say it again. Using the word "soul" to describe the good qualities of art is a clear indication that you don't understand what you are talking about, and as a result you reach towards any kind of cliched, sentimental descriptor. Bah.

[nothingman00]

I'm 30 seconds into Ciel Errant and the chord progression sounds like a bad christian worship song.

the distrotion kicked in and it's pretty awful.

but this is all kind of premature. I'll give the whole CD a listen.

this sounds really bad though.

EDIT: "turd-tunes." How articulate. I've decided not to listen to the whole album after reading some of your comments. Skimming through the album not only is it soulless, it's regurgitated crap. The fact that you dismiss Animal Collective without any kind of valuable argument solidifies you lack any sense of forward thinking perspective in regards to music.

Wait... Weren't you going to stop posting here? Maybe you should stick to that... Oh, and I'll say it again. Using the word "soul" to describe the good qualities of art is a clear indication that you don't understand what you are talking about, and as a result you reach towards any kind of cliched, sentimental descriptor. Bah.

To be completely honest, Willie G., I was just checking on a hunch I had. There's another mb that I lurk at and the vast majority of the people over there have great taste in music (like this board) but lack the pretension of this board. The focus is on music, not on snappy comebacks and accelerating post counts. I enjoy this mb immensely, though I do think that the overall tastes of this board are extremely limited. I figured if I even tried to bring in new music, it would get panned. And well, it has. And everyone that reads this thread is now afraid to check the music out for themselves (with a few exceptions).

The other board (I honestly don't even want to give out its name, because some of the fucks on this board would infiltrate and ruin it) has several Coach regular posters as well, but I have never seen such trite, mean-spirited shit as this board dips to. Hey, I used the word "soul" so I'm an obvious art neophyte, huh?

Now, (in the spirit of this board) if you will, please enlighten me as to why any Animal Collective album outside of Sung Tongs should be listened to. I'm quite interested to hear your take, but beware, I'm with with the cliche police and so help me god, if you use a word that's ever appeared in any description of music, I'll send the brain castration hounds straight to your lobes, my friend.

[nothingman00]

Here, because I suck at describing music, apparently.

from decibelmagazine.com
It can’t be easy being a morbid black metal kid in Provence. There’s simply too much sun, too much lavender in the air, too much beautiful scenery, too much Peter Mayle-style quaintness about the Côte d’Azur region to elicit genuine feelings of morbidity and misanthropy. Multi-instrumentalist Neige has tried valiantly with his black metal-inspired project Alcest, most notably on 2005’s attention-grabbing EP Le Secret, but his long-awaited full-length debut completely abandons the chilly darkness for the warmth of the summer sun, eschewing screams for gentle singing, bleak lyrics for romantic poetry and metal for darkwave and shoegaze, resulting in a drop-dead gorgeous piece of work. If Jesu’s Conqueror sounded majestic, Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde is devastating.

Although Neige claims he was unfamiliar with early ’90s shoegaze, Souvenirs overflows with the layered guitars of My Bloody Valentine and sumptuous vocal melodies of Slowdive, which, coupled with a very strong Dead Can Dance influence, is reminiscent of 4AD’s glory days. We get faint traces of black metal, some tremolo picking here, some double-kick there, but that’s it, as the entire album is awash in pastoral melodies and imagery: “Printemps Emerause” shimmers achingly, the contemplative “Ciel Errant” is shamelessly rosy-hued, and “Sur l’autre rive je t’attendrai” has guest vocalist Audrey Sylvain channeling both Bilinda Butcher and Rachel Goswell. There’s an innocence to this record that’s absolutely beguiling, as our composer emerges from the black, rubs his corpsepaint-smudged eyes in the bright sunlight, and comes to the humbling realization that it’s a nice day, and life ain’t so grim after all. —Adrien Begrand

Just in case anyone on this board even cares...

[wmgaretjax]

My impulse was not even to respond. Hell, I'll talk about "Feels" a little bit.

I could go on forever about the production alone. The sense of rhythmic counterpoint that they somehow manage to harness and control with all those layers of picking was exactly what "Sung Tongs" was reaching for. Honestly, the way they ebb and flow in and out of chaos and noise totally takes the stochastic noise that minimalism has worked so hard to perfect and kicks the shit out of it. There is the flipside of this too, songs where the noise and chaos somehow becomes implied by the song deconstructing itself in simple ways ("Daffy Duck"). Part of it's the journey in getting to that point in the album, but somehow it happens standalone as well.

The lyrics are the bastard child of the best John Lennon's ridiculous meanderings, somehow capturing wisdom and immaturity in blithering strings punctuated with little refreshing hiccups.

It's pretentious, it's self-indulgent, but it transcends that. It might not be easy, but all it takes is just sitting down and listening to it with a little bit of focus. When it comes down to it, it's still fucking pop music too, which is mind-boggling.

+: more than anything, what's refreshing about Animal Collective is that they don't lock themselves into a recording studio. Their process is really transparent. You watch the songs evolve on tour, and there is a clear internal logic to how they are feeling their own work out. There isn't a moment on their last three albums where I even thought about the chord progressions or rhythmic structures on the first dozen listens. It's not because the structure and logic aren't there either... There are moments in their songs that surprise me every time, and I kick myself for it because I totally know they are coming, somehow the moments they've crafted have a way of forcing you to experience it in novel ways every time around.

[bballarl]

The new Sword album slays.

[nothingman00]

The new Sword album slays.

Nice touch, Andrew. I'm going to Waterloo and purchasing my first The Sword album today. Review forthcoming (sans usage of the word "soul"). I pray to god it doesn't ruin the experience of their live shows. If that happens, I may torture myself by reading williamgarretjx's Animal Collective review over and over while sucking copious amounts of nitrous out of balloons and listening to "Feels" on repeat until I either "get it" or die from trying.

Kidding Will, it was well written, though basically all I got out of it is that I have to really, really force myself to try to like "Feels". I've done it with countless other artists, but Animal Collective just escapes me... Maybe therein lies the brilliance of their work...

[xxxxxxxxxx]

So many great metal bands out there these days like Alcest that don't get nearly enough attention. Well not shoegaze metal like Alcest but theres just so much great metal out there right now.

Wolves In The Throne Room
Witchcraft
The Angelic Process
Baroness
Taint
Cobalt
Earthless
Jesu

[wmgaretjax]

sucking copious amounts of nitrous out of balloons and listening to "Feels" on repeat


might make it easier to sing along...

[bmack86]

Baroness are touring soon. Just saying.

[fober]

For all intensive purposes, it's used as giberish.

You win 400 internets.

[coldstart]

I always thought it was 'for all intents and purposes'

Hah, I was going to say the same thing.

[Robototron]

To be completely honest, Willie G., I was just checking on a hunch I had. There's another mb that I lurk at and the vast majority of the people over there have great taste in music (like this board) but lack the pretension of this board. The focus is on music, not on snappy comebacks and accelerating post counts. I enjoy this mb immensely, though I do think that the overall tastes of this board are extremely limited. I figured if I even tried to bring in new music, it would get panned. And well, it has. And everyone that reads this thread is now afraid to check the music out for themselves (with a few exceptions).

Oh, of course when you recommend something terrible it's our fault and not yours. God, what were we thinking not immediately enjoying this?

Seriously, save all this self-righteous BS. Our tastes aren't limited because we don't like some second rate doom band.

[thelastgreatman]

Animal Collective is absolute crap. And I'm pretty sure your album sucks too, Zach, but I'm not going to listen to it or anything. For all intensive purposes, you know.

[bmack86]

Hey, I'm listening to Alcest based on the recommendation here. It's definitely good, I'm enjoying it. I have to say, in this style of music, I prefer Jesu, but this is less dreary than that stuff. Certainly something I'll listen to again.

[thelastgreatman]

You also thought Les Savy Fav was amazing live, Bmack. =)

[bballarl]

Jesu can't compete with The Sword.

[bmack86]

You also thought Les Savy Fav was amazing live, Bmack. =)

I'd claim that as a zing, but they were so damn good in New York. I enjoyed the El Rey show alright, but it was nothing compared to the first time I saw them.

[Robototron]

I enjoyed the El Rey show alright, but it was nothing compared to the first time I saw them.

Agreed. Also, lastgreatman, I was interested to see what you had to say about LSF live, so I found the fucking novel of a post you wrote about their show that night. After reading through the whole thing, I realized that I sort of met you. At least, I was chatting with your roommate pretty much the whole time.

[nothingman00]

Oh, of course when you recommend something terrible it's our fault and not yours. God, what were we thinking not immediately enjoying this?

Seriously, save all this self-righteous BS. Our tastes aren't limited because we don't like some second rate doom band.

Dude, do you always go through every post italicizing every pronoun and speaking for the entire board (as in "our fault" and "our tastes")?

I mean, if you're the voice of the board, I'd at least appreciate a memo.

[Robototron]

Dude, do you always go through every post italicizing every pronoun and speaking for the entire board (as in "our fault" and "our tastes")?

Given that you were sitting there insulting the entire board based on your own shitty tastes, I figured I'd be nice and defend everyone.

[nothingman00]

Animal Collective is absolute crap. And I'm pretty sure your album sucks too, Zach, but I'm not going to listen to it or anything. For all intensive purposes, you know.

Randy, if this Robototron dude turns out to be an alias, I'm taking your junkie card away from you for good. How can any proper dope fiend spend as much time on this board as you do? At the very least, there should be periods of binging, or maybe a week where you forget where you live.

[nothingman00]

Given that you were sitting there insulting the entire board based on your own shitty tastes, I figured I'd be nice and defend everyone.

I'm sure they're all moved by your generosity. Who says chivalry is dead? You're the fucking knight on a white horse of the board.

[Robototron]

I'm sure they're all moved by your generosity. Who says chivalry is dead? You're the fucking knight on a white horse of the board.

You made a shitty thread about a shitty band, and then whined about it when no one liked it. What the fuck did you expect was going to happen when you suddenly decided "that the overall tastes of this board are extremely limited"?

Also, I'm a girl.

[bballarl]

The Sword don't discriminate. They just rock.

[thelastgreatman]

Randy, if this Robototron dude turns out to be an alias, I'm taking your junkie card away from you for good. How can any proper dope fiend spend as much time on this board as you do? At the very least, there should be periods of binging, or maybe a week where you forget where you live.

If it was my alias it would be hilarious, you should know that. Sadly, I remain dopeless. But I just got 200 bromazepam and 100 nitrazepam today in the mail FINALLY. Thanks again. This shit rules. Oh, and the packaging is fucking hilarious.

[nothingman00]

If it was my alias it would be hilarious, you should know that. Sadly, I remain dopeless. But I just got 200 bromazepam and 100 nitrazepam today in the mail FINALLY. Thanks again. This shit rules. Oh, and the packaging is fucking hilarious.

Yeah I was going to ask you about that. The packaging is the best part. You open it and immediately think "Holy Fuck, I just got ripped off" and then you tally 'em up and smile broadly from ear to ear. Don't go too hard on the first day, my friend.

[thelastgreatman]

Two nipams and a brom so far, nothing major. Now what's the deal with how these equivocate to American benzos? Gimme a rundown. PM if you want.

[nothingman00]

Two nipams and a brom so far, nothing major. Now what's the deal with how these equivocate to American benzos? Gimme a rundown. PM if you want.

Generally speaking, I'd post the benzo list as follows (in order of potency):
Group A (strongest- fairly interchangeable, sleep aids more than anti-anxiety):
Flunitrazepam (aka Rohypnol)
Triazolam (Halcion)
Temazepam (Restoril)

Group B (very potent anti-anxiety)
Midazolam (Flormidal)
Nitrazepam (Nipam)

Group C, in order (gets the job done, anti-anxiety):
Clonezepam (Klonopin)
Bromazepam
Diazepam (Valium)

Group D (never fucking touch)
Lorazepam (Ativan) --- just doesn't fucking work, though apparently it works well as anti-convulsant)
Alprazolam (Xanax)--- too fucking dangerous...

I have no idea about what Lendormin (Bromita...) is about at this point.

OK, so all that said, the Heath Ledger death reaffirmed my hatred of Xanax. A friend of a friend passed away (late 20's) of a cocktail of Xanax, liquid GHB, and booze, and when they were saying that meds had been found, I immediately thought "It's going to be Xanax interacting with something else". Not that anything has been confirmed, but Xanax is a dangerous, evil drug... Probably the second most dangerous of all benzo's behind Rohypnol, and certainly the most dangerous when placed in the context of how often it's prescribed. Definitely one of the most difficult addictions to overcome. This needs to go in the "Drug Thread" or "Anxiety medication" thread. I'll delete it and move it in a couple hours.

Now let's resume the discussion of how horrible my music tastes are based on this one recommendation that didn't float well with Ms. Robototron and a couple select others.

[wmgaretjax]

i avoid anti-depressants (or are those sleeping pills) like the plague. I mean, for all intensive purposes, that shit just makes me feel strangely guilty.

[nothingman00]

i avoid anti-depressants (or are those sleeping pills) like the plague. I mean, for all intensive purposes, that shit just makes me feel strangely guilty.


For all intensive purposes, I completely agree with you.

Back on topic.

I wish I could change the name of this thread to "Nothingman music recommendations for you to pan".

Next up: Mercury Rev-Yerself Is Steam (an oldie but goodie). Please make general tone of replies as condescending as possible. Bonus points for those who've never heard the album but can still put it down.

[Tylerdurden31]

The Sword don't discriminate. They just rock.

ya know, me and my friends talked to the bass player when the opened for trail of dead like...4 years ago? Really cool dude. Meanwhile Toto Miranda from the Octopus Project was being kind of a prick that day.

[canexplain]

ok, so i was sitting here bored and decided to listen to Alcest again just to see if i was trying not to ruffle feathers and just go along with the thought of the thread ... no we are right lol (yes music is VERY subjective) but i really like this cd ... i am surprised people of the coachella ilk, would not mostly like it, but say it is crap ... people always amaze me ... canx**