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Offline Sacul

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. #1 sax is love, sax is life
« on: December 03, 2016, 02:54:52 PM »
In the title "retro" stands for "restrospective" - that means this list is about my favorite discoveries of 2016! Not necesarily albums released this year, just stuff I stumbled upon these last 12 months.

I already have half writeups done, will start posting honorable mentions now - they're almost as many as albums on the final list, which has 30 albums, and isn't completely finished by now (there are a few albums I'm considering putting there or here). I hope to start posting the actual list during the last 2 weeks of 2016 or so  :corn

Honorable Mentions:

  • Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill OST
  • Alter Bridge - The Last Hero
  • BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
  • Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
  • Boris - Pink
  • Burial - Burial
  • Death In Vegas - The Contino Sessions
  • Dredg - Catch Without Arms
  • Emiliana Torrini - Love in the Time of Science
  • Giles Corey - Giles Corey
  • Glen Hansard - Rhythm and Repose
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
  • Fire! Orchestra - Enter
  • Hooverphonic - A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
  • Kashiwa Daisuke - april.#02
  • Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
  • Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul
  • maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
  • Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
  • Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
  • No-Man - Flowermouth
  • No-Man - Returning Jesus
  • No-Man - Schoolyard Ghosts
  • OSI - Office of Strategic Influence
  • Porcupine Tree - Signify
  • Saltillo - Monocyte
  • Sigur Rós - Kveikur
  • Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
  • Susanne Sundfor - Ten Love Songs
  • Swans - The Glowing Man
  • The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
The List:   

30. Darren Korb - Bastion Original Soundtrack
29. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
28. Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
27. Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid
26. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
25. Burial - Street Halo/Kindred
24. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
23. Anathema - A Sort of Homecoming
22. DJ Shadow - The Private Press
21. Ludovido Einaudi - Divenire
20. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season
19. Gazpacho - Night
18. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
17. Morcheeba - Big Calm
16. David Bowie - Blackstar
15. Obsidian Kingdom - A Year With No Summer
14. Bohren & der Club of Gore
13. Nils Frahm - Felt
12. Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles
11. Kashiwa Daisuke - 88
10. Gorillaz - Demon Days
9. iamthemorning - ~
8. Darren Korb - Transistor Original Soundtrack
7. Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music II
6. Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtrack
5. Dredg - El Cielo
4. Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 3 Original Soundtrack
3. The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls with Sand
2. Ulver - ATGCLVLSSCAP
1. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission


Recommended songs playlist.
 
« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 05:38:51 PM by Sacul »

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. almost not copying Parama's idea
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2016, 02:56:18 PM »
Honorable Mentions

Silent Hill
Akira Yamaoka


The fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh...

Damn, took me some time to get around this one! Maybe that's because it's been quite a while since I last played this game. I'll be honest, I thought it was quite bland but got the impression the soundtrack was nice. So revisiting it now I'm very impressed - dark assaults of industrial sounds and noises, disturbing ambient pieces, some wonderful trip-hop tracks like Killing Time, even a Pink Floyd-ish rocker on She and fucking tango with Esperándote. Very influenced by Reznor (according to Yamaoka himself) and Badalamenti, feels like a very twisted Twin Peaks at times (except not really). Definitely better than what I expected when returning to it.

Recommended track: Tears of...


BBNG2
BADBADNOTGOOD


Hey pig, piggy, pig, pig, pig...

Probably too chaotic and energetic for my taste, but still displays the group's unique take on jazz and hip-hop influences. Half the tracks are covers, half are originals. You'll have a hard time guessing which are which! Well, not the recommended track, which is basically a cover of James Blake's cover.

Recommended track: Limit to Your Love


Pink
Boris


Still better than Loveless

How the fuck can these guys be so creative using basically the same instruments on every album yet they all sound different? Fucking Japan. Well, Pink is crushing, heavy, sometimes slow or very fast, but mostly beautiful. The vocals are probably the weakest part tho.

Recommended track: Farewell
« Last Edit: December 03, 2016, 03:15:30 PM by Sacul »

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. almost not copying Parama's idea
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2016, 02:57:25 PM »
I'll be well and truly disappointed if there's no paramacore on this list

Offline Sacul

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. almost not copying Parama's idea
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2016, 03:16:27 PM »
I'll be well and truly disappointed if there's no paramacore on this list
:neverusethis:

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Dubstep, drugs, and Iceland
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2016, 12:49:26 PM »
Burial
Burial


Now that I need you...

Burial slowly crafting his sound, which would find a huge refinement on the amazing Untrue. Kinda rough at times, but a very immersive, late-night listening atmosphere. This guy is a genius of sampling.

Recommended track: Distant Lights


The Contino Sessions
Death in Vegas


Open your eyes...

I dig this one. It starts and ends quite awesome, but what's in between ranges from excellent to just ok - yes, there's some filler here. Yet that doesn't stop this combination of 90s electronic music (Big Beat, Dub, Trip-Hop, among others) with psychedelic rock from resulting in a very hypnotic experience. Recommended if you're looking for something unusual and trippy. Also, Iggy Pop on vocals here.

Recommended track: Dirge


Love in the Time of Science
Emilíana Torrini


I still think she could have used a better cover...

Sometimes she's been compared to Bjork, but I think the only similar thing is being Icelandic and having a voice tone close to her. And she's a lot more experimental than Torrini, for sure. Myself, I found this album very enjoyable actually - catchy, lovely songs, not much pretension, just some good pop tunes with a nice electronic vibe and production. It can get a little wild a times, and I definitely prefer those tracks. But the songwriting here isn't very deep tbh, and towards the end you feel like have listened to variations of 3-4 songs. And they aren't very daring in terms of structure or innovation. And that's ok, I like this album for what it is: a simple pop record.

Recommended track: To Be Free

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Dubstep, drugs, and Iceland
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2016, 12:56:56 PM »
Eh I feel like our tastes continue to drift further apart but I will follow anyhow :metal
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Feels, more feels, and FUCKING CANADA
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2016, 08:55:49 PM »
Gyles Corey
Gyles Corey


Giles Corey, bloody, gory/We will redress your wrongs...

This is legit a strong contender for the most depressing album I've ever listened to. This is like an indie folk album taken to this extremely dark and surreal next-level. Indie folk is usually uplifting with it's sadness though, and this definitely is at times (Grave Filled With Books), but for the most part it's just absolutely soul-crushing, nihilistic, and overwhelming. This is like the slightly more down-to-earth, but still very fucking dark and weird, younger brother of Deathconsciousness. The production here really makes it stand out, for it sounds unlike anything I know - and it's a haunting atmosphere.

So bad half the tracks here are just ok, because when it's good, Giles Corey is mind-blowing. Or just heart-breaking.

Recommended track: The Haunting Presence


Rhythm and Repose
Glen Hansard


Holding on....

I'll start by saying that Bird of Sorrow is one of the best songs I've listened to in a long while. So I was hyped to check an album with such a beauty and... I was disappointed. That track is by far the best here. However, that's not to say this is a bad album, no - Philander, High Hopes, The Storm, It's Coming, they're all excellent songs. The rest are pretty standard soft folk tunes. Which are pretty nice, but not special at all. Such an inconsistent album it's almost a shame, but one I'm still happy to have listened to a few times. Now I need to check his work with The Sowing Season.

Recommended track: Bird of Sorrow


'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Godspeed You! Black Emperor


I still think she could have used a better cover...

I think this was the last of their albums I hadn't listened to yet. And boy, what I was missing. 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!' is probably the collective's heaviest, most apocalyptic record to date (even more than Asunder, Sweet... I'd say), one of outrageous guitar distortion, heavy drones, and eastern sounds, along with GYBE! classic buildups and use of sampling. The album kinda falls short on the last two tracks, but the opening song is among their very best.

Recommended track: Mladic

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Dubstep, drugs, and Iceland
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 08:57:23 PM »
Eh I feel like our tastes continue to drift further apart but I will follow anyhow :metal
Hell yeah. Remember all these honourable mentions are 4/5 (or 8/10 or 80%, whatever) albums, so you should check a few. Like Boris' Pink :P

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. pretentious hipster crap nobody cares about :D
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2016, 09:00:51 PM »
Enter
Fire! Orchestra


You have to live to die... And to die to live...

Got this one on my roulette, and wtf. Enter is basically an avant-garde jazz record made by a collective of like 15 people or so. It's very experimental with those choirs, guitar feedback, weird vocals, demented sax, etc, yet somehow not completely inaccessible. The last song is basically the first one but on steroid, curious decision. I'm still not big on the middle tracks, which have some awkward harsh noise sections and people doing things to their voices that I wouldn't recommend. Still a very interesting album, that's somehow outside of what I listen to, but that I ended up enjoying a lot.

Recommended track: Enter pt. 4


A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
Hooverphonic


As I was saying, stereo is full of surprises...

Quite an interesting record - I love the atmosphere here, and the ethereal vocals. Although some argue this isn't really trip-hop, I can see why: there's not a jazzy mood like Portishead nor a foundation on hip-hop and dub like Massive Attack, nor on turntablism like DJ Shadow. I dunno what's the background of these guys, but these tracks show they had experience in dream pop, electronic music, and even some rock. The "trip-hop-ness" is due to sharing a similar approach to the mentioned artists, with the use of female vocals, samples of old soul songs, a late-night mood, slow, simple songs, focus on production, etc. So all in all this is a very good bunch of soft songs that range from popish tunes, to atmospheric pieces build up around spoken samples, to guitar-driven atmosphere - there's quite a lot of variety here. That being said, I think there are a few... not really duds, none of these songs are bad, but some are rather forgettable. Also, the synths sound a bit outdated, like they haven't aged well. Other than that, an excellent record.

Recommended track: Inhaler


april.#02
Kashiwa Daisuke


Beauty and chaos...

Still not as refined as (yet noisier than) Program Music I, this album shows Daisuke's ability for merging sophisticated electronics with modern classical melodies. The title track is one hell of a journey through broken drum beats, glitchy pianos, splashes of noise, and feels. Sad the rest of the record doesn't hold up to it.

Recommended track: april.#02

Offline LieLowTheWantedMan

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. pretentious hipster crap nobody cares about :D
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2016, 09:49:23 PM »
Damn, I was starting to think I was the only Fire! Orchestra fan here. Lots of good stuff so far. :metal

Offline Fluffy Lothario

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. pretentious hipster crap nobody cares about :D
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2016, 02:29:46 AM »
Damn, I was starting to think I was the only Fire! Orchestra fan here. Lots of good stuff so far. :metal
Nuh uh.

I'm still not big on the middle tracks, which have some awkward harsh noise sections and people doing things to their voices that I wouldn't recommend.
Listen to this. When I first bought the album, I would alternate between a listen to the studio version and a listen to the live version. They're both stronger and weaker than each other in different places, so by alternating, you get a fuller sense of what they were going for with the whole piece. But I particularly enjoy the beginning of Part Three much more in the live version. The vocals are still more or less the weirdest shit ever (other than the last ten minutes of their debut), but also much more awesome.

And if your favourite track is Part Four, the finale is off the fucking chain here compared to the studio track.

Oh, and they toned down the weird vocals a lot in their latest album, but then it's also not quite as good as their first two overall.

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. pretentious hipster crap nobody cares about :D
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2016, 12:29:23 PM »
I'll give it a listen later  :P

Tried giving Ritual some spins, but didn't grab me much besides the first song tbh.

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Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
Lovage


I'm a man... I'm a virgin...

I don't know where the satire and the legitimacy of this album as sex music end and begin. I mean, with bae we tried making out to the recommended song and spent more time laughing than kissing - it's just ridiculous!

So, the music itself is some pretty nice trip-hop - nothing too original or inventive, but very, very well done (Dan the Automator from Deltron 3030 and Kid Koala collaborated making these tasty beats). Some record scratching, live instrumentation like harpsichord and guitars, and a few guest vocalists like Prince Paul (aka Chest Rockwell), Afrika Bambaataa, Damon Albarn (the guy behind Gorillaz!), and Maseo from De La Soul. While no song does really stand out, they all are consistently good and makes for an album that rarely gets boring despite being baby-making music. Very interesting record indeed.

Recommended track: Sex (I'm A)


Ghosts I-IV
Nine Inch Nails


Don't let the minimalist cover fool you...

Along with The Fragile, probably their most experimental release. According to Reznor, Ghosts I–IV originated from an experiment: "The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as ... something". Worth noting is Brian Viglione's contribution to the album - he stated that Trent's instructions to him were to "build a drumkit. Piece together any stuff that you want to bang on; rent what you want to rent. Have fun and ... be creative—See where your mind and your ideas take you." Viglione's makeshift drum kit included a 50-gallon trash can, a pair of water cooler jugs, and a cookie tray with a chain across it.

So yeah, this album goes from soft piano-driven instrumentals, to weird electronic experiments, to guitar bangers with lots of distortion, to just whatever. Worth noting is the brilliant marketing, based on giving away this album in a "Pay What You Want" fashion like Radiohead's In Rainbows and via the official Nine Inch Nails YouTube profile, a user-generated "film festival" was announced, where fans were invited to visually interpret the album's music and post their results.

Recommended track: Ghosts 31


Flowermouth
No-Man


I begged for your forgiveness with flowers in my mouth...

The electronic side of this one remind me of Bjork's Post, that kind of dance music that was popular at the time. And although many ideas here are quite dated, the strongest side of the album is the songwriting, which Steven Wilson was beginning to improve and improve with each release on his other projects. Flowermouth's certainly been a grower for me, one which I wasn't too fond of to begin with, but has won me a bit with amazing tracks like Things Change and Shell of a Fighter - the last one sounding a hella lot like something from Stupid Dream. Not complaining tho.

Recommended track: Watching Over Me

Offline Train of Naught

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That NIN album :hefdaddy
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

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Giles Corey :hefdaddy
...the years just pass like trains
I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline Sacul

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That NIN album :hefdaddy
Giles Corey :hefdaddy
:metal

EDIT: Btw since part of the final list is undefined (I have a couple of albums I dunno if including them or not), I'll slow down this to two albums per day. I'll also be absent this weekend so  :corn
« Last Edit: December 08, 2016, 01:40:33 PM by Sacul »

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. edgy trip-hop and a 60yo cowboy yelling for 2 hours
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2016, 08:28:01 PM »
Monocyte
Saltillo


You think you are something...

Saltillo gone industrial and glitch! With his very sweet cello-driven trip-hop style, I should be in fucking love with this, right?.. Right?... Being honest here: this album is a beautiful mess. Songs feel either incomplete or meandering - as Matthews himself said, it was a record made in a bit of a rush, and to me it's clear that the songwriting could really use some refinement. However, the brooding, almost chaotic atmosphere that serves as a soundtrack to a comic of the same name (written and painted by him!) mesmerizes me - this is really trip-hop on another level. Looking forwards to his next album... whenever it's due.

Recommended track: They All Do It the Same


The Glowing Man
Swans


NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Brutal, atmospheric, sometimes tribal and surreal. Sounds a bit like a mix of the previous two albums with added choirs, and more interesting than To Be Kind imo. Although I'm not as into it as The Seer, it's a very good album. Notable are the excellent vocal performance of Gira, and the production - maybe too clean and clear for such visceral music, but I don't mind because it sounds awesome. Solid album to close this stage of the band's history.

Recommended track: Frankie M.

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Man, The Glowing Man was fantastic. I'm with you on enjoying it more than I did TBK. Completely mind-bending of a musical experience, I just love how cerebral it is.

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I definitely wouldn't say that Glowing Man is a mix of The Seer and TBK. I also wouldn't call it "brutal", in fact, I think Gira was actively moving away from that. All three albums balance atmospheric gloom with heaviness. The Seer was more on the heavy side. To Be Kind sits right on the fence. Glowing Man is like an exercise in taking their sound as ambient/atmospheric as it can go.

The first three songs are by far the best on the album, and a better straight hour of music than any on The Seer or To Be Kind. On those, they go all in with the dark atmospheric approach, and Gira seems to be really trying to leave the last two albums behind and do something different. As a result, they're completely fresh, compelling and fascinating.

The last disc is the worst disc of all three albums though. They lose some of their composure and it's more of a retread of the past two albums, and nothing on there's as convincing. I find Frankie M's ending a bit underwhelming, it needed something more to close it (and I think that's the only Swans song I can say that about). Glowing Man's pieces are all great, but it's a bit overly disjointed. And the rape song is too jarring and doesn't really fit on the album. The disc generally lacks unity and focus. Still good though.

One way in which the album is really unified and really really good though is the thematic content, and I've still never seen anyone mention that in all the commentary I've read/heard on the album. The album is about finding a way to escape the world we're in, break down, fog one's mind or distract oneself; and then moving beyond that to resurrection, rejuvenation, and rebirth (all of which is VERY telling since this is possibly the last Swans album). The first track is a prayer, and at the end of it, "I am blind", which, considering the title, it's like having his mind wiped, after which he is in a state of "unknowing" and spends the next twenty minutes trying to get a single sentence out. The end of both the second and third tracks sound to me like they're evoking Lazarus. The general nightmarish feel of People Like Us, from which "we need to dream to escape". On Frankie M, he's pleading someone on drugs literally to "live again". When Shall I Return is self-explanatory. The Glowing Man is the rebirth. And the last track is reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, a mixture of rude awakening (all creation is hollow) and enlightenment (your glorious miiiiind).

Offline Sacul

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To be fair, it's been a few months since I have listened to the album, and that particular writeup I translated from one I wrote back when it released so I may not have nailed the record's sound at all  :lol

I'll admit I'm not the guy who looks deeply into lyrics or themes on music, but that makes sense, a lot. I guess Gira's lyrics being a bit cryptic haven't encouraged me to try make sense of them :P

Also realised I fucked up the pace of this one, and will have to post only an album per day so I can finish the list - don't want to leave out recent stuff.

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. a weird yet relaxing collision of genres
« Reply #20 on: December 09, 2016, 10:34:32 AM »
New update, then I'll be gone all weekend. I also added a playlist to the OP with the recommended tracks from each album :P

Part the Second
maudlin of the Well


Like a stone I fell, and was engulf'd in winter darkness...

Thinking about this album now, I feel it's actually like Toby Driver's version of Talk Talk's Laughing Stock. It has a very chill ambient vibe (in contrast with, say, Bath), lots of weird melodies, many instruments both organic (strings, pianos, etc. - mostly chamber stuff) and electric (math rock guitars mostly), Toby's soft singing; sometimes the album it's very minimal, sometimes it's loud yet not heavy... just intense. And I have no clue what the concept is about, only know it's very cryptic by reading the lyrics. Although I'm not sold on Driver's style, I'll admit I enjoy this record much more than Bath. Good stuff to relax to!

Recommended track: Another Excerpt: Keep Light Near You, Even When Dying

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. a weird yet relaxing collision of genres
« Reply #21 on: December 09, 2016, 04:17:46 PM »
Bath >>>>> Part the Second, but the former is a top 15 album ever, while PTS is just a solid record overall.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. an amazing concept album set in the future
« Reply #22 on: December 12, 2016, 10:55:38 AM »
Year Zero
Nine Inch Nails


I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism...

After The Fragile, I think Year Zero is Reznor's most ambitious record - and hour-long concept album set in an Orwellian near-future America, hyper-industrialized into a smoky slag-land of shanty-towns like a resurgence of the Great Depression. The government polices opinion and thought, run as a totalitarian Christian theocracy, controlling people through morality police, constant surveillance and mind-altering drugs in the water supply, and distract the populace with wars. Basically some harsh political/social commentary.

And the album's sound is no longer the dark industrials of the 90s - we're in the year 2022 babe, this is some highly refined electronic stuff, and shit tons of distortion. A very digital sound indeed, a bit similar to Radiohead's Hail to the Thief in approach, but harsher. And as usual, songs are catchy af. Kinda sad there's not much variety musically speaking. But what I think elevates this album is not exactly the music itself, but one of the most brilliant marketing strategies transmedia activities ever devised:

Quote
In February 2007 fans discovered that a new Nine Inch Nails tour t-shirt contained highlighted letters that spelled out the words "I am trying to believe". This phrase was registered as a website URL, and soon several related websites were also discovered in the IP range, all describing a dystopian vision of the fictional "Year 0". It was later reported that 42 Entertainment had created these websites to promote Year Zero as part of an alternate reality game.

The Year Zero game consisted of an expansive series of websites, phone numbers, e-mails, videos, MP3s, murals, and other media that expanded upon the fictional storyline of the album. Each new piece of media contained various hints and clues to discover the next, relying on fan participation to discover each new facet of the expanding game.

Between tour legs, a small group of fans received an in-game invitation for a special event in Los Angeles - they assisted to a fictional Art is Resistance (the activist group on the album's story) meeting, and they were graced by an unnanounced NIN concert, which was cut short as the meeting was raided by a fictional SWAT team and the audience was rushed out of the building. Talk about involving your audience. Fucking art.

Recommended track: The Beginning of the End

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. an amazing concept album set in the future
« Reply #23 on: December 12, 2016, 10:58:25 AM »
>tfw not the astonishing :neverusethis:

Offline Sacul

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. an amazing concept album set in the future
« Reply #24 on: December 12, 2016, 11:15:30 AM »
>definitely not bait  :neverusethis:

Offline Sacul

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. some nice depressing pop
« Reply #25 on: December 13, 2016, 11:14:16 AM »
Ten Love Songs
Susanne Sundfor


Fade away...

Although White Foxes is probably my fav pop song ever, I've struggled getting into her music. So decided to give her last album a chance before giving up on Susanne. Colour me surprised, I dig it! It's probably her most straightforward record, with some 80s influences. Yet it's up up my alley. Dunno why, but I just like this one a lot.

Recommended track: Accelerate

Offline Bolsters

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. some nice depressing pop
« Reply #26 on: December 13, 2016, 06:29:24 PM »
 :tup

Offline Sacul

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Neither psychodelia nor pop...
« Reply #27 on: December 14, 2016, 11:32:23 AM »
Signify
Porcupine Tree


Dark matter flowing out on to a tape...

This is one of the band's transition albums - from psychedelic rock to some pop territories. And it's both, resulting in a very atmospheric released full of catchy hooks, but also some very relaxing ambient sections. May not be as emotionally engaging as the band's future work, but I'm happy to have finally listened to this one - for some reason never paid much attention to it.

Recommended track: Dark Matter

Offline Crow

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. some nice depressing pop
« Reply #28 on: December 14, 2016, 11:34:48 AM »
yeah basically everything about that, yup

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. some nice depressing pop
« Reply #29 on: December 14, 2016, 11:38:55 AM »
That album is still growing on me every time I spin it.
I would like to like Dark Matter more. Don't get me wrong, I still like it but there are some better songs on Signify and when talking about whole discography, it's not even close being among the best songs imo (and many consider it to be there).
...the years just pass like trains
I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline Sacul

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Neither psychodelia nor pop...
« Reply #30 on: December 14, 2016, 11:42:16 AM »
Same, Sleep of No Dreaming is my fav from the album, but recommended Dark Matter anyways :P

Offline Elite

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Neither psychodelia nor pop...
« Reply #31 on: December 14, 2016, 11:45:49 AM »
You're way late to the party.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. Neither psychodelia nor pop...
« Reply #32 on: December 14, 2016, 11:48:13 AM »
Same, Sleep of No Dreaming is my fav from the album, but recommended Dark Matter anyways :P
That one and Waiting Phase 1.
...the years just pass like trains
I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline Sacul

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. A great non-prog side project of a prog artist
« Reply #33 on: December 15, 2016, 06:29:14 PM »
Lunatic Soul
Lunatic Soul


I feel all troubles are gone...

Not as good as Walking on a Flashlight Beam, but a very solid album - closer to tribal sounds and in mood to Riverside, yet still far apart from the band's music. Dark, very introspective and atmospheric, and definitely "fuller" than his last album, meaning it's less minimalist and electronic. Very interesting album anyways, kind of a cinematic experience.

Recommended track: Lunatic Soul

Offline Sacul

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Sacul's 2016 retro list! v. another Steven Wilson side proyect
« Reply #34 on: December 16, 2016, 12:33:59 PM »
Schoolyard Ghosts
No-man


All sweet things will come again...

I think this is their most experimental album next to Wild Opera, but while the former was very electronic, Schoolyard Ghosts is mostly a soft, quiet folk album, with lots of ambient influences - similar to Together We're Stranger, and both with a style kinda resembling to Gilmour's On an Island. Yet this album has some... weird parts: Pigeon Drummer has some fucking abrasive percussion breaks, very electronic and heavy; Songs of the Surf is draws from post-rock; most of the album could be classified as 'ambient pop', etc. Not everything works here, and while I still prefer  their previous album, I'm glad I checked this record for it has plenty of wonderful songs. No-Man are tied with Blackfield as my fav of Steven Wilson's side projects.

Recommended track: All Sweet Things