Hey everyone! I've been thinking about doing a monthly music blog for a while now because music is a big part of my life and I never want to stagnate and just listen to things that I've heard a million times before (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just that I always wanna keep finding new music). Not everything here has to be new discoveries for me but that should be a big part.
But first...
I suppose this is sort of a special blog because it's also a small retrospective at my first month on the site. I must say that it has been an absolute pleasure to interact with you all! 🖤🖤🖤 The community is so positive, welcoming and open that I feel quite confident approaching almost any subject here and I've already met a lot of interesting people here. Thank you to all who have taken an interest in my previous ramblings and this one as well. Thank you for commenting and liking my stuff. I'm sure there'll be more to come!
Now with that out of the way
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
Ok, so for anyone who knows me I'm a big fan of progressive music and so this iconic album has been an unforgivable gap in my repertoire for a while. It's amazing that 51 years after it's release this still sounds like such an experimental record even by today's standards, especially in tracks like the opener 21st Century Schizoid Man (try saying that 3 times real fast 😅) which can be very noisy or the very minimalist and unstructured instrument dialogues in Moonchild. But still the album retains a very strong sense of melody delivering beautifully layering track after track. Again, all the more impressive considering it's 51 years old! It's almost a crime that I haven't checked this sooner since this band has influenced so many of my favorite artists and I distinctly remember my dad telling me about them which makes me feel even dumber now!
Sarah Longfield/The Fine Constant
Ever since I've started playing guitar some years ago I've loved instrumental guitar music and I've been delving into it again quite heavily this month. I've listened to a lot of artists such as Steve Vai (the master), Plini, Intervals, Polyphia and Animals as Leaders but this month Sarah Longfield has been a real standout for me. I've know of her through Youtube for a while but I've only now started to listen to her music more seriously. She started playing guitar after playing piano for a while and so she developed her style in a more tapping oriented direction that I feel makes her sound and composition quite unique. She has such finesse and sensibility while playing that it feels quite light but also strangely percussive while in the meantime she backs all of it up with some impressive technique. She used to have a band called The Fine Constant but sadly they don't play anymore. She also occasionally sings and her voice is really sweet so it goes along quite nicely with her sensible style
Obscure Sphinx - Epitaphs
This is something that I had already discovered last December but I've been listening to it quite a lot in January as well. Obscure Sphinx is a weird combination of Doom/Post-Metal/Progressive influences from Poland. They have such a powerful sound and a badass female vocalist. I've heard some people say that their previous record "Void Mother" is still their magnum opus but for me personally the atmosphere of Epitaphs hits me way harder but either way they're both great records and in the end it's a matter of taste more than anything else. I wish they were more well known but when it comes to these more progressive acts that have longer and more nuanced songs seem to get somewhat snubbed and so a lot of really amazing music is lost because it takes longer to appreciate fully and it's perhaps not as catchy. But anyway the vocals in this record are just amazing! In particular the track above "Memories of Falling Down" has a great atmospheric buildup with some really beautiful and slow vocal lines and at around the 6 minute mark seems to die off only to be revived with some crushing guitar riffs and a lot of dirty vocals. Very versatile overall. I'd recommend putting on some quality headphones and turning it up for maximum enjoyment.
Fun fact: the cover art for the album was painted by Mario Duplantier, drummer of Gojira (another awesome band that I recommend checking out as well)
Nero di Marte - Immoto
Last but not least Nero di Marte is an Italian progressive metal band that I discovered last December as well and I loved their previous album "Derivae" to death. Their latest album "Immoto" just dropped about a week ago and it's heavy as fuuuuuuuck. It's certainly not as pleasant or easy of a listen as most of the other recommendations above as it can get incredibly noisy and chaotic like there's no tomorrow. They sprinkle some lyrics in Italian here and there which I think sound very nice. Add to that some very soulful and quite anguished vocals, the afore mentioned chaotic guitar work that uses a lot of reverb and vibrato on the calmer parts and some of the most energetic drumming I've ever heard and it's quite a massive listening. Another one of those that I feel require some quality audio gear, volume, time and attention to fully appreciate. If you have time/interest I suggest you also listen to "Derivae". Personally I like it even more right now but I haven't had enough time to fully digest this new album yet so we'll see.
So those are my top picks for the month!
January hasn't been an easy month for me but music definitely helps! I've had university exams in the first 2 weeks then went back to the office to work full time which I wasn't doing before. I finally visited my dad's grave for the first time since his funeral 3 and a half years ago. Also I've been having a lot of awful feelings about my ex-girlfriend (to no fault of her own) and it's all just hitting me right at the same time. But on the bright side my new guitar just came yesterday (I put up a video of me improvising a little bit on it), I'm getting my first tattoo tomorrow (so expect a post about that soon) and I'm seeing Dream Theater live this Sunday.
busy busy,...
If you made it this far thanks for reading! I love you all! 🖤
(yes, even the dudes #nohomo)