Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald

Record #676: Fiddlehead – Springtime and Blind (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

 

Across the music community, there are two things that rarely pay off: hype and supergroups.

Hype over a band often overshadows the actual output of the project, while the work of most supergroups fails to capitalize on the combined efforts of the members involved.

But luckily, there are exceptions to every rule. Springtime and Blind, the debut LP from Fiddlehead (feat. members of Have Heart and Basement) eschews every ounce of speculation directed its way and delivers one of the most heartfelt, teeth-kicking albums in years.

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Record #674: Alcest – Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde (2007)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald / 1 Comment

After the other two members of traditional black metal band Alcest left, soon-to-be French metal icon Neige decided to use the project—or at least the name—as a vehicle for his own experimental mix of black metal, shoegaze, post rock, and gothic.

As a child, Neige would often dream that he was visiting a forest filled with glowing, enchanted creatures from another world. On Alcest’s debut full-length, the suitably titled Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde (Souvenirs from Another World), Neige explores what he’s always imagined the music of that land to sound like.

The results are just as otherworldly as advertised, though it shows mere glimpses of where Alcest would go in their now legendary career.

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Record #673: The Life and Times – Skull Map (2017)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Often when I’m trying to figure out what I want to listen to, I find myself trying to make the decision between heavy riffs or catchy melodies. Do I want to sing along with the choruses, or do I want to be crushed beneath the monstrous weight of the guitars?

Luckily, The Life and Times never makes me choose, hitting like a mix of HUM-y walls of noise with almost Beatles-y melodies.

And I am here for it. 

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Record #672: Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Sometimes, life feels like a random intersection of others lives. In 1969, there was just over three and a half billion people on the planet. And somehow, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones found one another and formed one of the most important bands in the whole scope of pop music history.

And they released this record, which would become one of the most influential albums of all time.

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Record #671: Greylag – Greylag (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

In the spring of 2006, during the heyday of MySpace, I somehow ended up becoming good friends with an entire family of siblings that I had never met.

The eldest was Andrew Stonestreet, a singer songwriter with a golden voice and a master for subtlety. At that point, he was writing bluegrass inspired worship songs that were as introspective as they were delicate.

Years later, he moved from West Virginia to Portland, where he formed Greylag, a project that turned his Appalachian sensibilities a few shades atmospheric—and apocalyptic.

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Record #670: Grey Gordon – Forget I Brought It Up (2014)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I sometimes forget that my friend Grey is more than just a memelord. From his constant online irreverence and roasting of just about every band in existence (see: his podcast Demolisten), it sometimes feels like he doesn’t have a heart at all.

But within a few seconds of his solo full length Forget I Brought It Up, I realize oh yeah, this guy does have feelings—and an incredible talent for communicating them through poignant lyrics and a rich mixture of 90s alternative, pop punk, and emo.

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Record #679: Kraftwerk – Electric Cafe (1986)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

By the mid ’80s, mechanical, inhuman synthpop that Kraftwerk pioneered had gone from an avant-garde experiment to the main stream. Artists like the Human League, New Order, and even Madonna had already taken the same artificial instruments and turned them on pop music.

And so when Kraftwerk released Electric Cafe, it was in a world where electronic music wasn’t just made by robots anymore. The adjustment is a little difficult, but it’s more rewarding than not.

Read more at ayearofvinyl.com #kraftwerk #krautrock #electronica #avantgarde #synthpop #vinyl

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Record #678: Kowloon Walled City – Container Ships (2012)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

When I first stumbled upon the wonderful post-hardcore supergroup Less Art last year, I was a little unfamiliar with the home projects of the members. Obviously, I am a longtime and die hard fan of Thrice, but I had only given a precursory listen to Curl Up and Die, and had never heard of Kowloon Walled City at all.

But, the strength of Less Art invited me to look into them, and oh, am I glad I did.

Container Ships, their 2012 sophomore record, is a patient, cerebral piece of heavy music that blends sludge metal and post-hardcore in a brilliant way that lands somewhere between ISIS and Fugazi.

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Record #677: Kitaro – The Light of the Spirit (1987)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Every once in a while, the general music-listening public collectively latches onto an esoteric trend and gets super into it for awhile.

In the ’60s, it was Indian raga, such as Ali Akbar Khan. In the ’70s, it was jazz fusion like Miles Davis, his large cohort of collaborators, and their imitators.

Then in the 80s, there came New Age. And while it’s easy to dismiss new age as uninspired, atmospheric, pseudo-spiritualism that went on to become the soundtrack of wannabe yogis and crystal-filled wellness spas forever, Kitaro is another story.

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