[M-Mu] Music Obsessions, October 2023

Busy, busy, busy month...this month was quite possibly the most musically dense month I've ever had, and this post will likely reflect it in monolithic size. I don't even feel I have the time to get into attending my first concert, as I feel that deserves a post in its own right. Just trying to conceptualize how much writing this is going to take is stressing me out, so let's just jump right in.

| White Light from the Mouth of Infinity | Deezer | Spotify |

Dissonant, somber, yet soothing and beautifully dark in classic Swans fashion from this era. I feel like the tones throughout are really cynical, yet still hopeful, it swings from one end to the other like a pendulum. I find something about this album really profoundly beautiful.

This album was more or less my first proper introduction to Swans, and while certainly not chronological to their entire discography, I believe this was an amazing starting off point for me to start branching out into the different eras this band went through. I'd like to think it's very accessible, but that doesn't detract from the ultrawide impact and resonance I feel this album captures super well.



| 10,000 Days | Deezer | Spotify |

Anyone that knows me, knows that I play a lot of Tetris, and this month was pretty incredible for breaking my own records, and improving in general. This album was the background music for a lot of it, and the album that stood out to me the hardest in Tool's discography. I feel it shares a ton thematically with Dream Theater's Metropolis: Part II in a lot of good ways. Don't be surprised if that crops up in next month's post.

I feel a lot of the underlying anger and aggression woven into very technical and intricate feeling time signatures gives the tone of the album something strong to focus to, especially with how accessible I feel it starts out, as it slowly devolves into its own story-dream thing it has going on. There's something about just how the album lays each card out on the table that I find really...grippable. Yeah, that's the word I'll go for. Clean but grippable, blended very well. No, I won't elaborate further.



| Rated R | Deezer | Spotify |

I swear I'm always going to have the opening track stuck in my head for as long as I am still alive.

QOTSA, from my limited experience, is very wonderful in making tracks that are just dripping, saturated with an atmosphere I can't quite get enough of. Ironic given how "arid" a lot of it sounds, the kind of music that would be great to blast on a long road trip through the middle of nowhere, the music accentuating the view. Alternatively, wear a blindfold, and see what you can imagine.

I feel that a lot of people get caught up in the albums everyone knows from a band, they focus on the best, then compare all other work from the same artist, to what they believe to be their best. I think this perspective is kinda narrow and reductive to an artist's desire to experiment, and as far as albums QOTSA have done ? No, I don't believe this album is any #1, but I'm very grateful this album exists, because I love it all the same.

Yeah, Songs for the Deaf is a great album, but this is a great album too. There's a lot of albums out there that are great as well.



| Comfort Eagle | Deezer | Spotify |

Cake is, a really hard band to try and sell to people to, especially when the only album I will routinely revisit, is Comfort Eagle. They started out as an anti-grunge band in the early 90's that almost nobody knows. Or if they do know it, it's because some popular media somewhere used The Distance, or had it come up on some autogenerated workout playlist.

I'd like to put forward my opinion that Comfort Eagle holds stronger ground than Fashion Nugget (the album that The Distance comes from). Broadly, a lot of people don't like Cake because of how "speak-singing" the vocalist sounds, and if that's not for you, do feel free to just skip over this recommendation. Myself personally, I feel it adds a really smooth, comfy storytelling atmosphere to it that is accentuated well by the sprinkling of a brass section in parts. It makes the lyrics to me feel more memorable than the average song.

I can't vouch for their entire discography, but this album's my peak of their work to me, and is a very easy listen to do something productive to. I have a lot of memories of drawing to this album in what would be stressful times, but the smooth yet sharp focus of the album keeps me feeling good, and in the zone.



| Through the Window | Bandcamp | Deezer | Spotify |

So, this month I went to go see my first live show, which I'll be getting to after this one. There were two opening acts, and the person I went with agreed with me on this that, first opening act was pretty good. If it was only them, I'd have said they were great even, but unapologetically the second opening act, Prewn, blew them away without even needing to try and blast the audience away with intense riffs.
It was a shockingly romantic feeling, emotional opening act that stuck with me so hard that, I'd feel intensely guilty if I didn't shout them out here.

Sure, there's some argument that could be made that my enjoyment of it was how unknown they are, but I write these blog posts to detail the memories, experiences, and emotions I have with music, and this album cemented itself intensely hard in my mental audio library with incredible experiences. It's a very emotional, raw yet simple and short (31 minute) album that takes some great left turns near the ending tracks, the final two being my absolute favorite. It is very much worth your time, in my opinion. I want more.

Also the cover art is the same painting as the one from that Pile EP except it has some modifications and I feel like I'm the first one to make this connection, which I feel is an awesome little detail to note



| All Fiction | Bandcamp | Deezer | Spotify |
| In the Corners of a Sphere​-​Filled Room | Bandcamp | Spotify |

The main event, the big subject this month, Pile...

I was pitched the insane-by-my-standards idea of flying on short notice to attend a concert with an incredibly close friend who didn't want to go alone. Me being incredibly down for insane ideas that create insane experiences, I said absolutely, and 2 weeks later, I was in Georgia, attending my first concert.

The venue felt like it could fit maybe 40-50 people, was just some room in the back of a tiny bar, with some woman outside handing out flyers to some rave that was happening much later into the night. It was quite clear I was borderline offensively out of place in my intensely "can't you tell I'm a furry" dragon print hoodie, but I like it that way. What I learned from the first opening act was, you seriously do need ear protection at a concert, no exceptions. After a bit of hearing damage in my right ear though and the incredible aforementioned second opening act, I was definitely warmed up for the main show.

Warmed up maybe, but I wasn't truly prepared for how breathtaking a small, live performance could be. There's a physical feedback to the instruments that assaults your very being, as if your existence is being questioned by the power of the music, and your ability to flow with it and feel the music is your only way of holding on.

The entire set just didn't disappoint in any fashion, it was incredible. I don't think I actually properly understood how one would physically move to music until I experienced it live. The whole night felt so magical in a hard to describe way, living in the kind of moment I had daydreamed about for years, of having one of those experiences I know only those in that room can say they had, but my own experience had so much history of everything up to that point layered on top of it.

The night was incredible, and was such a high point of my year, of my life, and it actually gave me one of those rare moments of getting a taste of what I'd daydream about in lonely nights hidden away in my room. It was a dream come true, and was so fucking special to me that I didn't even get a chance to talk about Pile.

I'm just going to say it, they're in a golden age right this very minute, and if you're not listening to their newest stuff, you're missing out. Go check out the music video to their EP that'll be dropping in full on 2024-01-05. All Fiction is a fucking amazing album that I don't even have time to go into the details of my opinions on, and In the Corners of a Sphere​-​Filled Room is kind of a really amazing creativity test to see what you can extract from the music, and what it says about you, and it changed some ways I've thought about music.



| The Glow Pt. 2 | Deezer | Spotify |

I feel like, despite critical acclaim, it's a little hard to sell what I like about this album on the surface. It walks a very fine, indie-tinted line of sounding charmingly amateur, yet still has a polished sheen to it in areas, and it gets my mind speculating and wandering a lot. At times, it is calm and soothing, yet in others, it's very noisy and emotional.

Emotional really is a great way of describing the whole thing throughout, it almost feels like at times, we shouldn't be hearing this, it being too personal, but here it is. I think that's a really hard feeling to invoke in an album, but it achieves this really well. I don't know, go listen to it and judge for yourself, the emotions here make me a little uncomfortable to speak of its strengths any further.



| The Great Annihilator | Deezer | Spotify |

Fitting that this month begins and ends with Swans, eh ? It wasn't even intentional, this was just how the cards played out, but good lord what a strong end this was.

There's something is intensely gripping and hypnotic about the atmosphere of this album, I want it to sink through my skin, weave into my very being, and choke out my soul until I can clearly see the razor thin line between what can be observed, and what cannot. It fucking oozes this dark, moody dread while still keeping the energy high enough in peaks to feel like I've been paralyzed in the backseat of someone else's insane road trip in their tinted out hearse with interior space lighting, while still having a very solid up and down of intensity throughout.

The musical coyote spirit that sits on my shoulder and whispers music recommendations into my ear has told me that for whatever reason, Swans tends to attract strange fans, which I feel makes me feel lucky for being exposed to it in a vacuum where, I have no idea the type of fans they attract. Media is one of the few times in this world I truly do believe that ignorance is bliss in some form, some capacity.




I didn't end up getting this post out there on time not because of the volume of what needed to be written, but actually due to some technical problems on my end regarding Linux vs Windows. But, this was also quite possibly the most musically incredible month of my life, and if you could believe it, I had to trim down a lot of this. It was honestly quite an insane and emotional month full stop, and being able to cut down and polish one angle, one perspective of it into this post is something I find intensely fulfilling.

It's a feeling I hope I've been able to get across, and I appreciate anyone who reads this far. Enjoy the music you do, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. 💛