THE END. Or is it?

Overall the experience of writing this blog has been invaluable. Given the opportunity to comment on music has really opened my eyes to a new hobby as I can enjoy listening to music I love and improve my writing skills. From this assignment I may take up making a website where I can comment on wide varieties of music and help individuals sample artists of various genres. Although this is not a formal way of writing, I believe its healthy to break out of the stiff writing structure and writing about things you truly have a passion for in an informal one-on-one format. I can honestly say I have grown a love for writing and and even greater love for music. Thank You for following and reading my blog.

P.S. Sister Steadman if you are reading this I just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your class. Thank You.

#20 Zelienople: Pajama Avenue

Zelienople is a trio from Chicago who play music that you might expect given the album title of Pajama Avenue. Mixing quiet guitar melodies with floating synths, electronics, subtle percussion, and the ocassional clarinet, the group creates perfect music for those lazy days in which you just sort of wander around your abode without ever getting fully dressed (the kind of day that I think everyone wishes they had more of). In addition to the dreamy landscape, member Matt Christensen adds soft, breathy baritone vocals to almost every track, adding to the hazy feel of things.

With all of the elements above, one can hear bits of early Labradford, early Mojave 3, and a touch of some softer shoegazer bands. With 9 tracks that run just under 40 minutes, the group keeps things on the shorter end of the spectrum in terms of similar artists, opting for almost a minimal, fuzzy soft pop instead of drawn-out dronescapes. Opening with "It's Hard To Steal Cars," the disc shuffles into a soft journey with fluttering drums and a repetitive guitar melody over some subtle electronic programming. Christensen adds his sort of mumbly-whispered vocals, and despite not changing much throughout the course of the track (although other small flourishes come in and out of the mix), it goes on for just about the right length, with a nice horn instrumental to give it almost a jazzy swagger to close things out.

As with the first track, nearly every song on the album unfolds at a very human pace. After the slighty faster (which is sort of funny given the title) pace on "Chase Scene," the disc lands with one of the best songs in the stripped-down, "Friendly With The Father." Christensen sings in harmony with a pretty guitar melody that's absolutely drenched in warm reverb sounds while only a pitter-patter of hi-hat and some quiet found-sound samples of a bustling city play out in the background. If I had fuzzy slippers, my toes would be curling in them.

While many of the songs follow similar patterns in regards to their sound, it's the subtle changes that make the album work. "You Got Shot Down" piles several layers of warm loops over one another as the track chugs along with a subdued urgency while the album-titled "Pajama Avenue" adds some slightly uneasy synth sounds to the mix for sort of a woozy feel. If you're a fan of much of the dreamscapey sounds of the Kranky label, the Darla Bliss-Out series, or nearly any of the groups above, Zelionople probably has something to offer you. A solid little debut album, it moves steadily and surely without resorting to gimmicks. Great music for the upcoming winter.

#19 The Opus: Breathing Lessons

It seems like about once a year a very cool instrumental hip-hop album just sort of claws its way into my subconscious and the best of the past couple months just happens to be this release Breathing Lessons by The Opus. There's no doubt that the stuff on this disc will appeal to those looking for a healthy dose of fat beats and well-placed samples.

There's no use fighting the urge to compare this release to work by DJ Shadow, and so I'm just going to go ahead and toss that out right now. It's not _quite_ as hard as the stuff that RJD2 has put together on his last two outings, but it definitely has things in common with him as well. Basically, what you get is 11 nicely-varied tracks that bump for just over an hours time. The opener of "Fanum's Organs" is a fairly standard number cutting up vocals over a two-stepping beat that loops incessantly while sounding like its leading into something better. "Mission Control" is what comes next, and while it gets a little bogged down towards the end (by repeating the same sample ad infinitum), the opening two-thirds of the track works wonderfully with a touch of ominous samples and a rattling beat.

It's on "Life's Endless Cycle Pt. 1" where the Josh Davis (aka Shadow) comparisons really come in handy, though. A nicely subdued beat rumbles along under what sounds like filtered strings and other classical music, spilling together into a track that reminds one of the "What Does Your Soul Look Like" series. "Life's Endless Cycle Pt. 3" bumps things back up again with some filtered horn and vocal samples while "Isis" loops string stabs and plucks over another trunk-rattling rhythm.

The album closes out with three longer tracks (all seven minutes plus), but it's here where the album is also has some of its best moments. "The Strange Adventures Of Mr Happy" could have probably used a smidge more editing, but swirls together shimmering soundscapes with upright bass and loops of broken jazz for a gem while the album closer of "The Addiction" builds from a quieter piece into a pummeling epic over the course of 10 minutes. In short, if you enjoy instrumental hip hop (especially by the likes of those mentioned above), you'll most likely bump on this.

#18 Qua: Painting Monsters On Clouds

The two-part album opening tracks of "Painting Monsters" and "On Clouds" are a perfect introduction to his sound as he explores rhythm, melody and texture in ways that call to mind a slew of different artists without sounding directly like any of them. The former track mixes soft waves of feedback, clicky percussion and billowy ambience into a nice introduction, while the latter mingles together ramshackle drumming, playful melodies (that include filtered harps and twangy guitars), and warm textures in a way that calls to mind Caribou or Four Tet.

From there, the album continues to play things light and loose, and "Luckybuster" mixes some pretty guitar melodies with soft keyboards and some rather hyper programming into a track that falls somewhere between The Books and melodic IDM. The middle of the release slows things down a bit with quieter tracks like "Watercolour" (that blends field recordings, warm melodica, and some nice programming) and "Happy Domestica," which mixes clean playful tones and organic instrumentation in a way that sounds a bit like Nobukazu Takemura or Motohiro Nakashima.

Also a multimedia artist, Wilczek really sounds as if he's literally taking small steps with each song on his albums. Painting Monsters On Clouds fittingly ends with two of the best tracks on the entire release, with "Output" finding quirky melodies dancing off more textural backdrops and some nice acoustic guitar while the closer of "Secret Space" builds from an intro that recalls Mum into a more band-like second section with muffled drums, bright guitars, chimes, and loads of electronics. Considering the nice leap he made from his first album to his second, and that this eleven song release originally came out in 2008, here's hoping for yet another chapter in the evolving sound of Qua in the near future.

#17 Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Yanqui U.X.O.

Godspeed You Black Emperor is one of those groups whom I stumbled upon almost by accident a couple years ago and never turned back from. They took elements of classical, post and punk rock, ambient, and field recordings and somehow weaved it all into a magical sound that, despite it's somewhat downcast feel, gave me a little bit more hope. Every subsequent release has been eagerly anticipated, and Yanqui U.X.O. is no different. On a statement released with this album is the sentence, "the new album is just music," and that small statement can be read a variety of ways.

Strictly musically speaking, Yanqui U.X.O. is just what the statement says. Whereas the group encorporated found-sound recordings and other drifting passages in their past three releases (to the liking of some and the chagrin of others), this release is 75 minutes of pure music. There are quieter passages, and there are once again bombastic moments as well, but there is never an off moment. In that respect, the group feels more solid than ever, unfolding three songs over the course of 5 epic tracks, unveiling pieces that feel more like orchestral movements than simply smaller pieces of a larger whole.

Reading the above statement yet another way, one can easily take it as a statement for those who wish to pry meaning out of each and every thing that the group does. It's no secret that the group speaks their mind when it comes to politics (and the detailed drawing linking the big four media groups to production of military weapons), and while the group themselves makes references to different tracks in the liner notes to stir the imagination, they also admit their own implication when it comes to terms of their record being sold at chain-stores and other large media outlets (in turn owned by one of the members of the chart). It might 'just' be music, but if it's enough to inspire some action and involvement, (as the punctuation change in their name possibly suggests), hopefully it will inspire You! to action (or at least give you a little more hope).

Because of some of the above-mentioned items, Yanqui U.X.O. is probably one of the more difficult releases by the group to wrap your head around. While Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven was also a long release in that it was essentially 4 tracks stretched out over 90 minutes and 2 CDs, those tracks were in turn broken down into smaller segments (by samples or other instrumental bits that offered a bit of respite). Here, there are basically 5 segments, which in turn run only 15 minutes less than all the material on that last release.

"09-15-00" opens the release as reverbed guitars and thick percussion slowly builds out of a quiet harpsichord melody. Slowly piling on strings and more swirling guitars as it goes, the track takes a very undulating course, rising and falling very subtlely until it lays things to waste about ten minutes into the 17 minute long track. The 6 minute reprise of the track drifts like smoke clearing on a battlefield, with echoing guitar plucks and percussion ringing out over sad strings and quiet guitar feedback ripples. From the urgent opening guitars of "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls," it's obvious that it's teetering on the brink of an explosion, but once again the group builds the anticipation, letting small slivers of noise slip out before letting loose with a squall of blistering guitars and strings. From there, the track drops off into a middle section of plucked strings and again the tension bar is raised, as melancholy horns by Rob Mazurek and crew give it an even more deserted feel. Eventually, the track builds to another plateau, and while it's not quite as loud as expected, it sounds downright optimistic in contrast to the somewhat claustrophobic other three-quarters.

"Redeemer" is the album closer, and at over 30 minutes in its two segments, its easily the epic of the album. They've given it the royal treatment here, building from quiet chimes to an absolute thundering peak (again stretching the build out with subtle ripples and changes) before nestling back into quieter moments before a heaving and gasping reprise. In the end, it's another amazing release from the group, but it's not something that you can simply sat back with in one night and expect to digest. It's a release that refuses to be rushed, and while it still holds some of the basic things in common with releases of the past by the group, it also finds them developing their sound into something slightly different. It's a little bit less about the destination, and more about the journey, and despite that lingering statement about it being 'just music,' I've still managed to blather on about it for quite some time. That should tell you something right there.

#16 Wolf Parade: Apologies To The Queen Mary

The disc opens with "You Are A Runner And I Am My Fathers Son," (one of two songs on the previous EP), then backs things off ever-so-slightly with the acoustic guitar and piano-backed "Modern World." Members Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner switch back and forth on lead vocals (with literally almost every other track) and it's worth noting again that the slightly drawling vocals of Krug remind me a bit of Beck when he's not in mellow mode. With "Grounds For Divorce," the group starts a steady ramp-up and the gritty guitar/synth mixture of the track alternates between marching verses and more lush choruses.

Those looking for the group to truly rock out need look no further than the one-two punch of "We Built Another World" and "Fancy Claps." The former blasts out of the gate with a blistering guitar attack before dropping back a smidge with quieter, synth-laced sections while the latter lets the synths run even more rampant, bolting through dizzying arpeggios backed up with a dance-attack rhythm section and chunky guitars. It's one of the best tracks on the album and one of the best they've ever created (in their short lifetime).

From there, the group slows the pace but keeps things rough and tumble, piling on little instrumental touches here and there and sometimes spitting out vocals well worth the sing-along. Another highlight is "I'll Believe In Anything," a track that is about as anthematic as the group gets, always feeling like it's on the cusp of something bigger and bigger as it unfolds like a string of gradually louder and more epic choruses. In a few places, the nearly fifty minute release sags a smidge and/or feels like the group is regurging a bit, but for the most part it's a highly enjoyable romp from a group who seems like they'd be a blast live. It bears repeating, Hail Canada!

#15 Hrsta: Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes

Mike Moya is a longtime member of the Canadian music scene, and has been a member of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames, Molasses, and others. Under the name Hrsta, he's released two albums with a varying cast of supporting members, but Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes finds him joined by Brooke Crouser, as one of the core members of the group. The resulting album isn't too far off from past work, with largely spectral tracks comprised of slightly eerie instrumentation augmented by the somewhat odd vocal style of Moya himself.

As mentioned above, most of the album moves by with only a flickering of intensity, instead content to soak in a vibe of foreboding. "Beau Village" heightens the tension with some strained vocals by Moya as strummed guitars reverb out over moans of organs, bowed electric guitar, and muffled drums. "The Orchard" is even more measured, with a ghostly choir filling in the gaps behind some nice harmonies by Moya and Crouser as guitars mingle with electric piano.

One of the most haunting songs on the release are also the most airy and open. "Tomorrow Winter Comes" is easily one of the album standouts, as shimmering guitars mingle with twinkles of analogue synth and other drones to create a beautiful wash of sound that tingles the senses without being overbearing. On the other side of things are "Hechicero Del Bosque" and "Kotori," which build from the slow-burning psych that pervades much of the rest of the album into downright rocking tracks that help give the album a bit of needed punch. The former is particularly effective, simmering for almost six minutes before building to a boiling point and blowing its stack during the closing section.

As a whole, Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes is probably the most consistent album from Hrsta to date. It feels much more like an album than a collection of various songs (as his past releases sometimes did), peaking nicely in places while sprawling in others. The closer of "Holiday" surprises as well, packing things into a fairly tight three minutes, easily making for one of Moya's most "pop" songs to date. It's not for everyone, but if you've enjoyed past work from the group, or the Constellation feel in general, you probably won't go wrong here.