Frédéric Chopin

Time for a dramatic change of pace I hope you will all welcome with open arms. Chopin is one of my favorite classical composers of all time, and even more so because I am a pianist myself, and to hear these breathtaking melodies on the piano.. is just fantastic. Chopin was Polish and lived during the early 19th century, smack in the middle of the Romantic classical era, and his compositions are a perfect representation of such. Most of his works are just for piano, though he has done a couple of beautiful concertos (basically, a whole orchestra, but lead by a piano). For a long time he was praised as a child prodigy as the "second Mozart" (although I'm not personally not a big fan of Mozart at all) for his piano and composition skills, and was forever afterwards considered a virtuoso and influential and beloved composer of the Romantic era. Every single one of his melodies are awe-inspiringly beautiful, whether happy or sad, though he is known especially for his very melancholy, yet dramatically so, style in a lot of his pieces.

Genres: Romantic era classical music

Preludes performed by Ivo Pogorelich

Nocturnes performed by Tamás Vásáry

Ballades performed by Tamás Vásáry

Waltzes performed by Agustin Anievas

Piano Concertos 1 & 2 performed by Tamás Vásáry

Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye (2003)

Quite possibly my favorite album of all time. It might be impossible to adequately describe how incredible this album is, but I hope that you will understand by listening to it. In order to fully understand what it's getting at, however, it, without question, necessarily requires many listens. I urge you to be patient with this masterpiece and geniously (that's not a word, but I'll make it one) orchestrated album. I'll explain it as best I can, in hopes to draw you in. It's been called "avant-garde," it's been called "post-metal," but neither of these can fully describe what it really is and they also both sound absurdly pretentious. Toby Driver, the mastermind behind this incredible work, composes every movement of these pieces like a classical composer would compose his music. With an amazing dynamic contrast between beautiful and atmospheric yet eerie soft movements and dense explosions of noise and walls of sound, trust me when I say that this IS an adventure. Listen to it while watching the stars, or on a long late-night car ride, or in the dark solitude of your room, however you like, but just do it.

(As a side note, "The Manifold Curiosity" is my favorite modern piece of music ever written, for what it's worth.)

Tracklist:

1. Marathon
2. A Pitcher of Summer
3. The Manifold Curiosity
4. Wayfarer
5. The Antique

Genres: Experimental, avant-garde, post-metal, post-rock, postmodern classical music, bliss

Choirs of the Eye

(these are there later albums, the former of which is almost as good as Choirs, the latter of which is much different but certainly worth listening to):

Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue

Blue Lambency Downward

The Kidcrash

I usually just call them "Kidcrash," but "The Kidcrash" seems to be more popular, so let's just go with that. They are just bliss. With 3 full lengths and a slew of additional songs and an EP, it's great to see how much their sound has changed from 5 years ago but how it was also just as enjoyable then as it is now in its own sense. In its essentials (with the exception of their first album, New Ruins, for the most part, which is more straightforward post-hardcore), it's in a similar vein of screamo/hardcore music to bands like Loma Prieta, Ampere, or Sinaloa (all of which will be posted at some point), but they blend in some delicious math rock elements and tendencies, particularly in the guitar work, whilst maintaining a good level of yelling and hardcore absurdity.

Genres: Post-hardcore, math rock, screamo

Jokes

Snacks

New Ruins

I Haven't Had a Date for 4 Years Goldie Hawn Goldie Hawn Goldie Hawn EP / Huge Ass Beers to Go

Toe - The Book About an Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety (2005)

I used to run another music blog for a little over a year, but I got tired of it and it just kinda ran its course. I hope to make this one even better. For the record, this blog is intended for open-minded listeners. Expect albums of various genres, spanning from math rock, to folk, to jazz, to classical music of different styles and periods, and more. Music is the most engaging and personal form of experiencing an art in my opinion, and thus diversity within it is good. and I hope to share my love for it with all of you through providing you with lots of diversity.

Anyway, I figured I'd start by posting one of my favorite albums ever by one of my favorite musical groups ever. They are a Japanese band called Toe (often spelled with a lower-case "t"), and their sound is a pleasing hybrid of the guitar-heavy, rhythmically complex styles of a math rock band, underlying jazzy undertones and patterns, and all kinds of crazy stuff I haven't even heard in other musical groups. They are truly innovative and hard to describe, but I assure you you won't be disappointed.

Tracklist:

1. Hangyaku Suru Fuukei
2. Kodoku no Hatsumei
3. Tremolo + Delay
4. Mukougishi Ga Shiru Yume
5. All I Understand Is That I Don't Understand
6. C
7. Past and Language
8. Music for You
9. I Do Still Wrong
10. Metronome
11. Everything Means Nothing

Genres: instrumental, math rock, post rock

The Book About an Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety


(if you really like the album, here are a few EPs they also did):

New Sentimentality

Songs, Ideas We Forgot