We've Reached That Point In the Year

I've come to realise that I'm sick of hearing all my early year faves. I've been taking a break from the New Order and Caribou albums, to name just two, because I'm rather bored with them right now. Or burned out on them. I'm on the verge of reneging on my "'Broadway' is the greatest Low song ever written" proclaimations from earlier in the year (where are all the harmonies I used to concocted and hum on the spot?) and the M83 album is not, at this instant, the greatest album since "In Sides" (I'm not sure what is, though)(don't ask me to pick something else). Tis the season for overlooked albums that slowly morph into favourites as a result of involuntary (read: addictive) repeat listens (like Beef Terminal's "The Isolationist" from last year). It's also a time to catch up on some music as a result of watching every CD I own slowly pass through my hands as part of my long-overdue CD spreadsheet project (500-odd down, damned if I know how many are to come), accompanied by the continuing saga of bigass CD-booklet filing. The last time I did this, I entertained myself with the musical version of the blind taste test, and here I am, back to my old tricks with:

Arovane, "Atol Scrap". What's more, it shared the carousel with Aphex Twin's "Drukqs" -- I'm picking on that album yet again! However, I'm gaining an appreciation for how it convincingly snuggles up next to so many different styles of music. RDJ pulls off melancholy moods better than nearly anybody else. Speaking of impersonations, this Arovane album is sounding less like a faithful Autechre rip-off these days. It meshes so well with the Aphex Twin record because they're both so gloomy, even when the breakbeats are rattling around your listening space. Autechre haven't been this gloomy since "Tri Repetae" ("Garbage" and "Amber", however, deserve their own separate strata of punishment via gloom and "what's that sound??!?!?!" isolationism).

A Silver Mt. Zion yadda yadda, "Horses In the Sky". Even before their recent gig, I became hopelessly addicted to this album, which would be their best in a world without "Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward". The guts of their last record consisted of epic, symphonic sweeps. The vocals were then stapled on top. With the new record, the vocals are the main focus, not only because the instrumentation is so sparse, but because every track climaxes with a massive, bursting vocal line. It's as if everything was originally written for harmonica and crackling campfire accompanient, and later on, somebody decided to add some violins and guitar to increase the dramatic effect.