Category Archives: Favs

Boris – Heavy Rocks

Posted on by
Reply

In part three of my three part review of the May 2011 album releases by Boris, I talk about the album Heavy Rocks. In part one, I discussed New Album, and in part two, I discussed Attention Please. Be sure to check out those posts if you haven’t read them yet.

The aptly titled Boris album Heavy Rocks is exactly that. Unlike the other two Boris albums released in May 2011, this album features many more guitar and prog-rock elements.

While this album is heavier, it is also more somber. The other two albums—Attention Please and New Album—had a pop-rock format, but Heavy Rocks is less like that.

Instead, the album takes your ears on epic journeys. Continue reading →

Boris – Attention Please

Posted on by
Reply

For part two of three on Boris’s May 2011 three-album release, today’s focus is Attention Please.

Last week, I wrote about Boris’s New Album and how it was much more shoegaze than typical for Boris. Not to imply that Boris has a set sound, but they generally stay in rock territory, bordering on progressive with drone tendencies.

The first two tracks on Attention Please remind me of many other modern Japanese rock bands. The third track, Party Boy, brings the bass-heavy rock back that I’ve come to know and love from Boris. Continue reading →

The Old Van Halen Is New Again

Posted on by
1

I can finally listen to Van Halen again. Not that I haven’t listened occasionally to some of their older classics from the late 70s and early 80s, but I was never a fan of Van Hagar, as I and many other Van Halen fans referred to the band with Sammy Hagar as the front man. To me, David Lee Roth had the voice that belonged with Van Halen’s wailing guitars, and substitutions were not acceptable. Continue reading →

Boris – New Album

Posted on by
2

Boris is a band I’ve been into for the better half of last decade and now into this one. The band keeps my attention by not sticking to one style.

Their music is largely rock-based, going between drone metal, psychedelic rock, and noise rock. But they also have a pop album.

They frequently collaborate with other musicians. Sun Baked Snow Cave with Merzbow is probably my favorite experimental track of all time. It plays for 62 minutes, and is the ultimate approach to that style of music. The build up and the intensity work. It truly wowed me. They also have collaborations with classics like Keiji Haino and Sunn O))). Continue reading →

Mystic Sounds Top Picks, 2011

Posted on by
2

Top Artists Reviewed or Interviewed on Mystic Sounds in 2011

We at Mystic Sounds decided to put our heads together and come up with a joint list of favorite indie artists that we reviewed or interviewed in 2011. So Andrew compiled his list and I compiled mine.

Andrew’s List

10. Screen Vinyl Image (1 point)
9. Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes (2 points)
8. The Dagons (3 points)
7. Sabrepulse (4 points)
6. Amanda Palmer (5 points)
5. The Flashbulb (6 points)
4. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (7 points)
3. Circle Takes The Square (8 points)
2. Captain Ahab (9 points)
1. Tyler, The Creator (10 points)

Michael’s List

10. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (1 point)
9. The Flashbulb (2 points)
8. Sabrepulse (3 points)
7. Love and a .38 (4 points)
6. Emilie Autumn (5 points)
5. Hanzelle (6 points)
4. Alexx Calise (7 points)
3. Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes (8 points)
2. Florrie (9 points)
1. Stevie Scott (10 points)

You can see that Andrew and I have quite different musical tastes, though there is some overlap in our lists. To give more weight to those artists on whom we both agreed, any artist landing on both our lists earned an additional 5 points.

Mystic Sounds Editors’ Top Choices

10. Alexx Calise (7 total points)
9. Circle Takes The Square (8 total points)
7. Captain Ahab (tie, 9 total points)
7. Florrie (tie, 9 total points)
5. Tyler, the Creator (tie, 10 total points)
5. Stevie Scott (tie, 10 total points)
4. Sabrepulse (12 total points)
2. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (tie, 13 total points)
2. The Flashbulb (tie, 13 total points)
1. Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes (15 total points)

Congratulations to Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes for landing at the #1 spot on the Mystic Sounds Editors’ Top Choices list!

Mystic Sounds Editors's Top Choice: Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes

Creative Commons License
The above image, Mystic Sounds Editors' Top Choice Award, 2011, by http://www.trollmystic.com/music/2012/01/22/mystic-sounds-top-picks-2011/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Sleigh Bells Album “Reign Of Terror” To Be Released In February

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been an avid fan of Sleigh Bells since hearing their first release in late 2009. Capturing my attention with my weak spot for female vocals, and still having that loud rock edge. Sleigh Bells tracks were easy on the ears, had the right vocals, and didn’t put me to sleep.

Songs like Infinity Guitars and A/B Machines brought a spark of new life to my music collection. They were loud, they were bass heavy, and the beats impressed me as a mixture of hip-hop and rock. It was something you could head bang to, but also something you could freak out to.

The coming together of dance punk and noise pop could have never been so fresh. When I listened to their album Treats in April 2010, it was many of the same songs; however, they were cleaner. Sleigh Bells didn’t really change, they were still loud. I much appreciated their previous efforts, but eventually Treats began to grow on me. Continue reading →

Michael’s Top 10 Artists for 2011

Posted on by
Reply

A Review of the Top Favorite Music Artists in 2011, by Michael K. Eidson

In the US, solo female vocalists dominated the top of the year’s end music charts for 2011. On Billboard’s top artists of 2011 chart, the top 4 artists were all solo female vocalists: Adele, Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga, in that order. Nicki Minaj (#7) and Taylor Swift (#8) also placed in Billboard’s top 10 for 2011.

On a personal level, my preferences with respect to new music have leaned heavily towards female vocalists for the past several years. In 2011, my tastes leaned so heavily in that direction, 32 of my top 50 artists for 2011 are solo female vocalists, and 10 were groups with lead female vocalists, such as Heart (#13), or otherwise prominent female vocalists as members of the group, such as Fleetwood Mac (#34). Continue reading →

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Would You Hold It Against Me?

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve never really been Britney Spears’ biggest fan.

Sure, I started following her work with Baby One More Time, but that was early on in my youth. Back when there really weren’t a whole lot of options. Back when peer pressure and mob mentality pretty much ruled your undeveloped musical tastebuds.

I have since grown further away from Top 40 hits such as Spears’ endeavors.

That was up until a few years ago when Lady Gaga reintroduced me to popular music. It made me want to dance, instead of reminding me of the watered down pop-ballads from the early 2000s.

As time went on, more mainstream pop music began to incorporate more dance elements into its style. Continue reading →