Iain The Destroyer's Top 10 (or so) albums of 2008

In no particular order...

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Ayreon - 01011001

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath

Protest the Hero - Fortress

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Sun Kil Moon - April

Thrice - Alchemy Index Vol 3 and 4

Foxy Shazam - Introducing

Russian Circles - Station

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Demians - Building an Empire (being my overall favourite of 2008)

Honourable mentions...

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
TV on the Radio - Dear Science

2008 was a fantastic year for music, and already having listened to a new release of 2009 already (Animal Collective's 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'), I'm hoping 2009 will just be as good!

Finally free...

So, I'm finally in Raleigh, North Carolina! I've been pretty busy since Sunday, so that's why I haven't been online much to talk to people. Anyway, thought I'd run through what I've been up to this week, beginning with the flights...

Sunday - Woke up at 7am, well, stayed awake until 7am because I couldn't sleep. I was so excited, and I was also rather anxious about the flights, and the duration of them. I got breakfast, and did some last minute checking that I had everything I needed, then got changed and ready for the trip to the airport. It felt so weird driving the usual route into Belfast, knowing that it would be my last time going on these roads for at least a year. My dad and I realised that, again, we left far too early and that I would have to wait for a while in Belfast International, as if my 7+ hr journey and 5 hr wait in the connecting airport wasn't enough...but, actually, I didn't have to wait too long at International.

Check-in seemed to be a bit awkward, I had to put in all the details of where I was living etc, when thinking that checking into customs when I arrived would be enough for the US to know regarding where I was staying. Anyway, I wasn't really in the mood to complain about it.

I said my goodbyes to my dad, and went through security, where some woman proceeded to run through my laptop with a wipe...I assume it was to check for anything suspicious, but why would a wipe pick that up? Anyway, I appreciated the clean she gave it regardless. It didn't seem too long before I was boarding my plane, and the beginning of my journey began.

The flight itself actually went by pretty fast, Continental had some amazing screen on the seats of planes, where you could play loads of games, including in-flight Texas Hold Em, with other people on the plane! Such a cool idea. So, I had plenty of stuff to keep me occupied. I wasn't so keen on my row neighbours, both old people who refused to move an inch of their legspace when I needed past them both (I had the window seat), so getting up to move around was frustrating, so I only got up once the whole flight. I tried to get a little sleep, but I didn't get any despite trying. I guess flights and sleep just aren't for me.

I kept the blind over the window most of the time, but touching into America, I decided to open it and it really was a wonderful view...going into these crazy mountains and very rural areas into suddenly hitting downtown New York and then Newark, before touching down. Seeing the Empire State Building brought a smile and sense of excitement to my already tired face. Customs and immigration control was a joke - the line and general process lasted well over an hour, when I expected it to last maybe for 20 minutes max. After getting my bags, I then went to the connecting flights line, which was shorter but pretty confusing. They asked where I was going, and asked me to drop my bags off at this very dodgy looking area with other workers - they said they would handle it. This had me panicking the whole time at the airport, and on the plane, that I would never see them again and some random guy could have stolen them.

Anyway, I was meant to meet a friend of mine from 5/8, but unfortunately I couldn't leave the airport and had to proceed through security, so I had no company, again. But, it was OK. I kinda got used to being on my own at that point. Luckily my time flew by pretty quick, where I ate 2 HUGE slices of Pizza from a place called Sbarros, and then went to the "Caliente" Mexican bar and grill, and got my first alcoholic beverage, a Heineken Light! It was actually really nice, and very easily drunk.

I also got to watch my first "game" on TV - Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers. Was fun to watch - but the amount of ads on were ridiculous, but a lot of them were hilarious too. So, this also killed some time. My flight boarded, and I was yet again stuck beside an old person, this time one who was clearly drunk and kept trying to swallow ice cubes but failed so many times, to the point of serious aggravation. The flight itself seemed so short, and then I was off the plane, and finally seen Colette, who I hadn't seen in almost 5 months!

It was so odd that I was finally in America, and seeing the crazy highways was exciting and interesting at the same time. It made me think that I will have take a long time to adjust to the roads here when I learn to drive.

Since arriving, I've been taking it easy, mostly...visited some of Colette's family, and went to a few malls. I still haven't fully recovered from jet-lag yet, but I'm getting there. I've also re began my addiction to Mountain Dew! One thing that frustrates me is that prices in stores say, $19.99, but when you get to the check-out, it costs an extra few dollars because of tax, but I don't understand why they can't put the tax included price on too...like in the UK, because then you know exactly how much you're paying.

I haven't trekked it to a bar yet, so I can't say what bars here are like, but I'm sure I'll be able to review that pretty soon!

I'll update this whenever I have something to update it with.

Iain

Album of the month, and one album that changed my life - December 2008

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

The Fall of Troy - Phantom on the Horizon

As with last month's album of the month, I only got a hold of this album literally a few days ago. Since getting it though, I have listened to it a lot. November for me was not a big huge month of discovering new music, I simply re-listened to a lot of albums I already love, or haven't listened to in a while. Up until getting this album, I was seriously thinking that I would be listing an old album as an album of the month. But, no!

I was anticipating this album for many months, knowing that they could definitely top Manipulator, which, in my humble opinion, is The Fall of Troy's best work. Many fans and critics would disagree, and think that Doppleganger was their best effort, simply because of the sheer technical ability displayed on that album. Anyway, in summary, I think Manipulator offers better songwriting, with the technical ability still there, but kept in context with the music, and not just random fret and tap wanking. I was also consistently checking their site, and the Wiki page for updates. 

When I noticed that the album was going to be classified as one whole song separated into "tracks", I instantly thought "this is going to be like Colors, Frances the Mute and maybe even like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." And, despite the music not exactly being like any of the previous albums mentioned above, it still has a lot of epic parts which are very frequent in those albums.

Compared to last months album of the month, "Introducing" by Foxy Shazam, it doesn't really have a little something for everyone. But, most crucially, the album is balanced; something I've always felt has been lacking in all of their previous albums. Perhaps that quality being a trademark of theirs, writing unpredictable, mathmatical music. Despite being one whole song split up, all the segments link nicely together, with a seemingly musical motive and direction implemented throughout.

I don't see any "single" material for any of the parts in the song, something that The Mars Volta gained with "Widow" from Frances the Mute (which arguably is their most recognised song now). But, for a band like The Fall of Troy, who have received a lot of attention recently thanks to Guitar Hero 3 having F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. as a playable song, this maybe isn't a bad thing. They are deemed still as a very "underground" band, and singles definitely aren't their scene, or something they probably desire either.

Another thing about this album that appealed to me greatly was that it actually had a story behind it - something they had not done before, and again was greatly inspired by those albums mentioned previously; especially Frances the Mute (and, it could be said, some of the solos in this album sound ever so slightly like Omar Rodriguez's own solos, and guitar effects...but still with that traditional FoT sound). The story behind it is of a Spanish galleon ship, meeting a ghost ship from another dimension. And seeing as I am a firm believer of multiple dimensions, this story interested me greatly.

If I ever had one criticism of The Fall of Troy's sound, it was their production. I always thought they had a very weak sound, and that overall they didn't sound very powerful, and that the vocals were far too low in the mix. This album seems to regain a bit of good production, with some interesting panning effects and a lot more powerful sound, the vocals, I feel, still need a lot more work and energy...maybe I'm not a huge fan of Erak's voice, but instrumentally they sound a lot better, and most importantly, tighter. Despite this small criticism, this is still my album of the month.

AN ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Faith No More - Angel Dust

What can I say about this album that hasn't already been said? Faith No More made, in my opinion, one of the boldest moves in 20th century rock history - going completely against their previous albums success, showing their label and their tag-along MTV crowd a massive middle finger salute to their expectations of their follow up album to The Real Thing. Granted, this was the first album they wrote with significant influence with Mike Patton, who, prior to Faith No More had Mr. Bungle, a band who mixed many genres and experimented in the most odd ways.

Still, if the band didn't want that, they would have said so. Frustrated with "Epic" becoming such a huge hit, they wanted to return to just writing music they wanted to write, rather than what became successful for them. This is something I cannot admire more than enough.

Regarding how some of the lyrics were written, Mike Patton underwent a sleep deprivation experiment, toying with caffiene, and late night TV, and reading fortune cookies and scientology analytical tests. Compiling all this information together, "Land of Sunshine" and "Caffiene" became the bands opening songs on the album...and, is definitely the best way of saying "this is how we're going to write our music. You wanted Epic Part 2? Too bad." I also think this is very dedicated commitment by Patton to write something different and new, if I heard that album in 1992, I would have been completely blown away, and today in 2008 I am after every time listening to it.

A lot of the songs are such a reflection on society, take "RV" for example, an accordion version of the theme from "Midnight Cowboy", and not to mention their 2 big hits "Midlife Crisis" and the cover of the Commodores song "Easy", that, despite being completely against what was happening musically at that time (Grunge), were still hits, simply because they were written well.

Musically, the album is so good - some amazing bass and guitar passages, Mike Bordin's drumming being complementary yet tasty too, and what can I say about Mike Patton...easily my favourite vocalist of the modern rock world, so many diverse styles and ideas. Again, the album is not always easy to listen to, some songs being a bit odd (take "Crack Hitler" and "Jizzlobber" for example), and some being rather pop-like rock songs ("A Small Victory" and "Be Aggressive"), but one song that stands out is "Malpractice"...which, to me, sounds like demented death metal, from a band who are not death metal in the slightest...but can still pull it off.

I advise any open minded, decent music listener to get this album, or at least listen to it.

Iain