# I Finally Listened To: a bunch of stuff

I originally wanted this to be a series of posts diving into albums that I had procrastinated listening to. There are still plenty of albums that fit that description, and I have heard one or two since my last post. My problem, however, is that I don't have a lot to say about what I've heard so far.

So for this edition of I Finally Listened To, here are a bunch of mini-reviews of things I've been listening to lately.

## Jeff Wayne - Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds

I had partially heard this album on family road trips, but I had never actually sat down and listened to it front-to-back. So I finally did, and now I can say that I understand all of the references made to it by The Technical Difficulties.

=> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C35uN7xGL-XP9lNe0rqtXvyaxgVKPV (if you don't know what i'm talking about, just click this)

Among the great prog-rock epics of the 70's with a curious disco influence, this album tells the story of H. G. Wells' The War Of The Worlds, wherin the Earth is invaded by aliens from Mars. Richard Burton plays the Narrator and protagonist of the story with extensive spoken-word passages while Wayne's synth-heavy prog-rock aids the story through use of leitmotfis. While I find that some of the songs can be repetitive, it doesn't significantly detract from my enjoyment of the record.

## John Coltrane - Ballads, and Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

I'm not particularly well-versed in my jazz, but I've been meaning to get into it more. I've had my eye on these two albums since watching Anthony Fantano's recommended cool jazz albums video. These albums are somewhat close to my preferred jazz sound: slow, dark, and brimming with melachonly, although neither of these fully scratch that itch for me. Either way, I gave both of these a spin and after hearing them both, I have to say I enjoy the Coltrane record more. There's nothing wrong with Kind Of Blue, and it has plenty of fun moments, but Ballads comes much closer to the darker moods I enjoy more. I'd have no qualms of re-playing Kind Of Blue, but I've been listening to Ballads way more often.

## Eldamar - The Force Of The Ancient Land

Black metal can certainly be challenging to get into, and even then I understand it isn't for everyone. One name I've been meaning to check out in the sub genre of atmospheric black metal is Eldamar, a solo-project from Norway. I had seen their album 'The Force Of The Ancient Land' recommended to me a couple of times, but I just never got around to listening to it. Once I found myself listening to it in the background during work, I founf myself wishing the room was colder to enhance it.

Feelings of cold or Winter are reasonably common across black metal, and this album is no exception. The production is quite good by black metal standards, but retains just enough grit to not take you out of the mindset this album tries to put you in. I've yet to try listening to this album out in nature in the cold, but I can only imagine that would be the prime experience. Like with War Of The Worlds, some of the tracks on offer can be repetitive, though I don't consider this a significant flaw. This album is a wonderful and melancholic black metal gem. If that sounds like a good time to you, be sure to give it a spin.

## King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - their entire discography

Yeah, so much for putting off listening more from this band.

After I posted my Nonagon Infinity review, I managed to plow through every full-length album they had released and ranked them all as I went. King Gizzard are truely a contemporary classic rock band and will go down in history as one of the most ambitious and creative acts of all time. As for my thoughts on their albums, I don't have the time or motivation to give an in-depth review of all of them. So instead, we'll do a lighting round. Here is my ranking of the band's studio albums (as of right now), from least-favourite to favourite:

### Albums I would call "Okay"

20. Sketches of Brunswick East
Credit to this album for succeeding in creating the vibe it was going for. With that said, I still find it fairly boring.

19. Paper Mâché Dream Balloon
I like the chill, brit-pop sort of mood this album has going, but I didn't find it memorable for the most part. Trapdoor still slaps though.

18. Quarters!
The River is a great track, Infinite Rise is not, and the other two tracks are fine. This one's grown on me a little bit lately, but it's not something I would play very often.

17. Eyes Like The Sky
I actually enjoyed this album quite a bit, and it would be a lot higher-raking if the production was cleaner. Massive respect to the band for trying something like this so early in their career.

16. Oddments
Very much a collection a B-sides, but a fun collection of B-sides. Hot Wax and Vegemite always put a stupid smile on my face, but that's all I really remember from this one.

### Albums I would call "Good"

15. 12 Bar Bruise
I didn't know surf-punk was a thing before this album, but I'm digging it. Not a frequent listen for me, but I love the noisy production and the positive party energy on tracks like Muckraker.

14. Butterfly 3000
I didn't expect to like this album as much as I did, given that it's a pop album. A very sweet collection of psychedelic synth-pop tracks that always puts me in a good mood.

13. Made In Timeland
I had no idea what to expect from this, but it certainly caught me off-guard. Very fun to have on in the background and serves its purpose as intermission music well.

### Albums I would call "Great"

12. Fishing For Fishies
Great production, song-writing, and lyrical themes, as well as some of their best music videos. Some of these tracks don't stick in my mind, but Acarine is a severely under-rated cut.

11. I'm In Your Mind Fuzz
Ah yes, the 'classic' King Gizzard album. I obviously love the opening medley and think this is the album where they really nailed their signature sound. Unfortunately, I don't personally find many of these tracks to be very memorable, even if I enjoy them in the moment.

10. Gumboot Soup
Lots of good tracks here that would have otherwise gone to waste. Once again suffers from the memorability problem, even if I like actually listening to it.

09. Float Along - Fill Your Lungs
My enjoyment of these tracks varies quite a bit, but I still enjoy this album a lot on the whole. The sitar was a nice touch on some of these tracks.

08. K.G.
07. L.W.
As these are essentially a double-album, I'll talk about them both together.
I found the approach of taking the microtonal sounds of F.M.B. and exploring different styles with it yields some interesting results. On the whole, however, I find these records to be less consistent than their predecessor. My favourite track from both of these records is probably 'The Hungry Wolf Of Fate' from K.G., but I think that L.W. is slightly better overall.

06. Omnium Gatherum
Oh look, it's Gumboot Soup 2. Maybe less consistent overall, but still full of amazing tracks in a variety of genres. The Dripping Tap is by far one of their best songs and the hip-hop was a plesant surprise continued from Timeland.

### Albums I would call "Amazing"

05. Flying Microtonal Banana

The first foray into 24TET, Stu's practice on the Baglama paid off in how well these melodies are written. Virtually no low-points on the tracklist with a great desert-y krautrock vibe overall.

04. Polygondwanaland

I thought deadmau5 had the best use of polymeters and polyrhythms in music. I was mistaken. Some of the proggiest prog to ever prog, I find this album hard to listen to without listening to all of it. Also, the band releasing it into the public domain is the cherry on top.

03. Murder Of The Universe

I often find myself torn with whether or not I like Polygondwnaland more than this. Ultimately, the more prog-rock and narrative angle to their usual blend of psychedelic garage rock gives this album the edge. Some of the band's most unapologetic song-writing and sounds are here, which may alienate some listeners. As for me, I want it all.

02. Infest The Rat's Nest

I like to think that Gizz made this record after they saw not enough people getting the message from Fishing For Fishies. If F.F.F. spoon-fed you its themes, this album shoots them down your throat with a cannon. Probably the best trash metal concept album ever made, with a sprinkle of stoner rock/doom added for good measure.

01. Nonagon Infinity

Ever after all those great records, Nonagon Infinity is still my favourite.
=> /gemlog/nonagon-infinity-review.gmi Read my full review to find out why.

## I guess that's all of them

With the exception of all the King Gizzard albums, all of these albums actually had a common thread: I have them all on vinyl. Some of them I actually heard for the first time on vinyl after stumbling on them in record stores. I guess this post is just a roundabout way of saying I've gotten into vinyl lately. I'll be keeping the list of my collection on this capsule, on the off-chance people find it interesting.
=> /vinyl-collection.gmi Here it is!

=> /gemlog/ Back to gemlog home
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