Külföldi torrent oldalak What.cd | WCD Rise From Your Grave And Dance

Until now, we have mostly focused on those who help the site in official capacities—members of staff and various teams with official jobs. However, you, the users of the site, contribute far more to What.CD every day than we could in a year. From uploading and editing torrents to helping new users with all manners of problems, regular users contribute inestimably to the life of the site, mostly unasked, unrecognised and unrewarded.

Most of you will hopefully have noticed the TM Rippy picks over the last day or two. The Torrent Masters are among our most dedicated users. Beside contributing almost a quarter of all torrents on the site, they often dedicate themselves to fixing the uploads of others, writing Wiki guides in their areas of expertise and otherwise going beyond the call of duty to support the community.

The work of the VIPs is even less visible. Users ask us about them more than about any other class, but VIPs really are just very important people. While not every user has the funds or bandwidth to upload hundreds of torrents, many are driven to help the site in any way they can, often undertaking mammoth projects with no definite end and no guarantee of recognition. The current attitude off the staff is that VIP should reflect a kind of "lifetime achievement award" for drive and dedication of this kind. There are no fixed routes to obtaining it, but every VIP you see around the site has in some way shown an extraordinary commitment to the site itself, and for that we cannot thank them enough.

Legends are staff members who have since ascended to the great staff cemetery in the digital sky. Every staff departure is deeply felt, and we encourage our former colleagues to stay in touch with the community. To that end, they have provided us staff picks...from the grave.





WhatMan's Legend Pick

The Airport District - Encore

Genre: Mashup, pop, electronic, hip-hop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72335611

Review: I've become a big fan of mashup music lately. Listening to modern mashup is like eating a bucket of s'mores for dinner -- it may not win you any points for class, but you're definitely winning when it comes to sheer decadence.

Matt Bolles, AKA The Airport District, is a lesser known but very talented mashup artist. This album is a seamless and complex work composed from over 250 diverse samples. I'm highly entertained every time I listen to it -- especially by the last three songs.


irredentia's Legend Pick

The Legendary Pink Dots - Malachai - Shadow Weaver Part 2

Genre: industrial folk, experimental, psychedelic rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=13908

Review: Legendary Pink Dots' 1992 album, Malachai - Shadow Weaver Part 2, is the first of theirs I'd ever heard, and it took very little time to get under my skin. The album opens with signatures of the early 90's Dots sound: Edward Ka-Spel's rhotacistic pronunciation, subdued guitar and drums, the abstract warblings of whatever synths were in tow, and a small cadre of traditional orchestral instruments such as flute and saxophones. One can hear echoes of Jethro Tull, Syd Barrett, early Pink Floyd, Throbbing Gristle, Silver Apples, and music heard distantly and indistinct at 4 AM (whether in Paris or not).



Patience's Legend Pick

Jay Reatard - Blood Visions

Genre: punk, garage, indie

Torrents: torrents.php?id=27941

Review: You can pronounce his name however you want.



TedMaul's Legend Pick

Snuff - Demmamussabebonk

Genre: Punk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=144018

Review: I first came across Snuff supporting NOFX and after giving them a good listen I could see that NOFX weren't just giving a lesser-known outfit a chance, but instead trying to introduce their fans to a band who had been quite a significant influence. Snuff have a fast paced, witty style and don't take themselves seriously, and this album shows off what I consider to be the best of a band I wish I'd discovered a lot earlier.


fragmer's Legend Pick

Soul Oddity - Tone Capsule

Genre: Electro-Techno, IDM

Torrents: torrents.php?id=81718

Review: A unique little album from the duo of artists who went on to become Phoenecia. Full of focused grooves, sparky beats, space sounds, and funky bass. The sounds here are purely electronic: not a traditional sound to be heard. You will be wondering how they came up with some of these sounds. Released in 1996, this album still sounds fresh, and still one of the funkiest electro bass recordings out there. It somehow manages to be both trippy and danceable.



babygoat's Legend Pick

Scruffy the Cat - Time Never Forgets - The Anthology ('86-'88)

Genre: Rock, Pop, Alternative, 1980s, Power Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72805299

Review: All 36 Scruffy songs, from their two albums and two EPs! Boston’s Scruffy The Cat were local heroes and college radio mainstays during their late 1980s run. An infectious mix of barroom swagger with a twang.


Torus' Legend Pick

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

Genre: Experimental

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71905264

Review: Colin Stetson's 2008 album New History Warfare, Vol. 1 showcased the saxophonist/multi-reedist's phenomenal multiphonic improvisation style and circular breathing technique. Released in 2011, New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges features a similar exploratory solo saxophone approach that is nothing short of mind-blowing. Stetson uses the circular breathing style, recorded in single takes and occasionally with overdubs, to create atmospheric and hypnotic loops that sound like layered analog keyboards more than saxophones. In that sense, the tracks here often bring to mind something along the lines of Jean Michel Jarre crossed with Roscoe Mitchell. These tracks allow Stetson to skronk and pulse, wheeze and then soar with white jet-engine noise that is never purposeless and always controlled. Also featured here are a few spoken word sections with avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson -- including the poetic "A Dream of Water" -- that lend a cinematic quality to the proceedings. Elsewhere, vocalist Shara Worden delivers a haunting lead on the spiritual "Lord I Just Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes." Primarily, however, it is Stetson's transcendent and muscular ability to layer sound, breath, and rhythm in a meditative compositional style that sticks with you long after Judges is over.

- Matt Collar, Allmusic


Emm's Legend Pick

Pietra Wexstun & Stan Ridgway - Blood

Genre: Soundtrack, Dark Ambient, Modern Classical, Ethereal

Torrents: torrents.php?id=518731

Review:Just in time for Halloween! This album is a creepy original score commissioned by artist Mark Ryden for his 2003 "Blood" exhibition of paintings in NYC. "It's spooky, striking, and deeply atmospheric but lush and melodic, all at the same time. This is music that broods, sings, whispers, and slithers. There are lush moments of physical beauty followed always by deeper, more sinister emotions. This is a soundtrack that is cohesive, compelling, and more than a little unsettling." -Thom Jurek (All Music Guide)


iapetus's Legend Pick

Gramatik - Street Bangerz Vol. 3

Genre: Electronic, Soul, Hip Hop, Downtempo

Torrents: torrents.php?id=805444



jowa's Legend Pick

Nadine Shah - Love Your Dum And Mad

Genre: Downtempo, Rock, Alternative, Indie

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72537550

Review: Jessica Hopper, pitchfork.com wrote: Dum and Mad is blood-red gothic, desperate loves, and bitterness-- much more fully-fledged than you'd expect a debut to be. Producer Ben Hillier doesn't carve out a lot of space for Shah in the songs, but she takes it. The sound of the album is heavy, claustrophobic even; reflecting the subject matter, sounds double back, pile up, and refuse to fade. The arrangements are simple, usually just piano, bass, guitar, drums, and some bits of feedback or guitar scuzz saturating the mix for emphasis. It's all baroqueness and black clouds, and Shah low voice, purring, like she is trying to beg the moon down from the sky. For all of Dum and Mad's unebbing intensity-- it never gets overbearing, it retains a dynamism through Shah's magnetic voice-- she makes you want to stay in the darkness with her.



Tolstoy's Legend Pick

Quincy Jones - Walking in Space

Genre: Crossover Jazz/Fusion, Big Band

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72097302

Review: I didn't review this album, I listened to it. You should too.



Fawk's Legend Pick

Avatar - Hail the Apocalypse

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72718259

Review: Download this album, listen to it and Hail the Apocalypse!



hawkinbj's Legend Pick

Paul Simon - The Rhythm of the Saints

Genre: Rock, Folk, Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=28453

Review: Rolling Stone wrote: The Rhythm of the Saints, Simon's first collection of new material in four years, extends his reach not only further into the riches of world-beat music but further into the realm of the spiritual. The idioms that drive the new record are the guitar stylings of West African pop and the ritual rhythms of candomblé, a syncretic Afro-Brazilian cult that formed in South America when West Africans were displaced there during the diaspora. Simon has taken the primitive, religious roots of this music as inspiration for a song cycle that examines with visionary beauty and brooding intensity the viability of faith in a corrupt, heartless and sometimes merely predictable world.



dblaze's Legend Pick

Moneen - The Theory Of Harmonial Value

Genre: emo, indie.rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=82199

Review: I think this album is really good. I listen to it often.





Six66Mike's VIP Pick

The Last Stand - The Time Is Now

Genre: Hardcore

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72416778

Review: This is badass NYHC right here. Members of Shutdown with Mark Scondotto's brother Mike from Inhuman on vocals. This album features guest appearances from Lou Koller of Sick of It All, Dave Franklin of Vision & Joseph James of Agnostic Front & Inhuman. Check this out if you like hardcore.


sjo's VIP Pick

Tony Furtado and the American Gypsies - Live Gypsy

Genre: jam.band, bluegrass, folk, blues, funk, slide.guitar, jazz, live

Torrents: torrents.php?id=472748

Review: Slide guitar and banjo whiz Tony Furtado's fourth album in four years (for his fourth label) is a perfect encapsulation of how his sound has grown. Encompassing folk, blues, funk, and jazz, the disc kicks off with a seven-minute jam on "False Hearted Lover" featuring Paul McCandless on reeds (a recent addition to the American Gypsies). The ex-Oregon member adds unique East Indian snake-charmer scales as the group churns up a frothy backing. It, like most of these live performances of tunes taken predominantly from Furtado's past two releases, leaves the studio versions in the dust. Furtado's dusky vocals resonate with a successful combination of pathos and intensity, neither detracting from, nor overwhelming the crack playing at this album's heart. The songs typically clock in at over five minutes, giving the soloists room to stretch out. The balance of instrumentals ("The Angry Monk" and "The Ghost of Blind Willie Johnson") and folk/blues ("Stagerlee") successfully mixes tempos and moods, but the jams are definitely the focus here. Although his award-winning banjo work takes a back seat to his atmospheric Ry Cooder guitar tone, Furtado still tears it up on the jaw-dropping album-closing banjo instrumental "Waiting for Guiteau," where he burns with fleet-fingered jazz fusion intensity. On the more tranquil side is "Bottle of Hope," a languorous ballad, featuring John Burr's piano, and a tremolo-laden guitar solo that sounds like it originated from an obscure Cooder soundtrack. The New Orleans/Little Feat rhythm of "Fat Fry on the Hog Farm," another instrumental, allows Furtado to wallow in snappy folk funk. His tight band generally keeps their contributions on the back burner, but like a great partnership, they provide the foundation for Furtado's incredible string work. Throughout its nearly 70-minute playing time, Live Gypsy winds through enough twists and turns to rivet the listener, even for those who aren't jam lovers or guitar players.
~ Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide


umfreemcgee's VIP Pick

Diamond District - In the Ruff

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Torrents: torrents.php?id=461246

Review: "In The Ruff" is the answer for any lover of hip-hop who asks the question - "Where did that grimy East coast sound go?"



devilcius's vip Pick

Drag the River - Chicken Demos

Genre: Alternative Country

Torrents: torrents.php?id=186674



achifari's VIP Pick

Millions - Demos

Genre: Rock, Pop, Garage

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71883209

Review: Great two track demo from a cool band out of Australia. Great album cover.



barryegan's VIP Pick

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

Genre: Indie Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=19597

Review: The Woods is more aggressive than anything Sleater-Kinney has previously released, but the musical recipe that works so well for Janet Weiss, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein—Hendrix-style guitar solos, experimental interplay and flat-out noise—remains intact. Album opener "The Fox" uses overdriven, pounding guitars and panoramic drums in what turns out to be a simple children's parable. In "What's Mine Is Yours," two call-and-response chords move into a sped-up blues number—until suddenly the band cuts out and Brownstein begins a '70s-rock-inspired guitar solo, replete with feedback and fuzz. While the sarcastic ballad "Modern Girl" might break the album's cohesive rock vibe, the six-minute jam bridging "Let's Call It Love" and "Night Light" more than makes up for it. The trio delights in creating songs just to tear them down and rebuild them again in a different way, giving the album a dissonant, experimental edge. --Joy Lanzendorfer, Paste Magazine



Interface's VIP Pick

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

Genre: Classical

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72286649

Review: Antonio Vivaldi's Le Quattro Stagioni is one of the most beloved works in Baroque music, and even the most casual listener can recognize certain passages of "Spring" or "Winter" from frequent use in television commercials and films. Yet if these concertos have grown a little too familiar to experienced classical fans, Max Richter has disassembled them and fashioned a new composition from the deconstructed pieces. Using post-minimalist procedures to extract fertile fragments and reshape the materials into new music, Richter has created an album that speaks to a generation familiar with remixes, sampling, and sound collages, though his method transcends the manipulation of prerecorded music. -Blair Sanderson



LushByDesign's VIP Pick

Deco - Timescales

Genre: bass, electronic, downtempo, dubstep

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72594547

Review: Deco is the alias of Matt Rosenzweig, a former Atlanta college-radio DJ who's been residing in LA for the past seven years. Primarily a dubstep affair, Timescales looks back to the genre's early roots, the sounds first heard in Croydon underground parties and pirate-radio broadcasts. The stripped-down, reggae- and dub-heavy influences of Scuba, Distance, Youngsta, and Horsepower Productions seem to lurk in the background on tracks like "Musical Family," which features eerie, echoing chords and fragments of Jamaican speech. What's striking is how fresh Deco makes this 12-year-old blueprint sound. The synth work is crisp, while the audio panning and percussive elements are sharp and precisely arranged. Of course there is some nostalgia involved in digging into dubstep's past, especially given its maximalist and bombastic present state, but the material on Timescales merely shows proper reverence rather than aping any earlier producers' style wholesale.

XLR8R review: Timescales | XLR8R
Pitchfork review: Deco: Timescales | Album Reviews | Pitchfork


skazi's VIP Pick

Igorrr - Hallelujah

Genre: breakcore, electronic, idm, experimental, baroque

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72368633

Review: Hallelujah is a melting pot. Much like Unexpect merge unrelated instruments together into a sound all their own, so has Igorrr done with his 2012 offering. Only this is with classical and baroque elements. And industrial with a bit of power noise. And metal.

"Tout Petit Moineau" enters meekly with a subdued piano melody, adding in Italian operatic female vocals, courtesy of Laure Le Prunenec, as the piece slowly develops. At the height of the her voice's power in rush electronic elements, glitching and clicking around and under the beauty of the singers voice. Everything from slight frequency bombs, transpose stretch effects, noise gates, and gabber like beats can be heard here, and though it comes off as gimmicky on paper one absolutely needs to hear the combination to know just how effective it is. Rather than focus on these additions Igorrr throws another skillfully aimed wrench in the works, as Prunenec suddenly is screaming with the ferocity that only a female can produce in the Italian language. The vocals switch back and forth in a call/respond manner, all the while being followed by electronics walking the tightrope between cacophony and structural brilliance. The voices die, and single violin takes up their banner before it too passes away.

Charm and discord can be found throughout Hallelujah's 38 minute length. "Damage Wig" introduces guitar riffage, Dir En Grey-esque screams, and blast beats ala Behemoth while "Absolute Psalm" creates a nightmarish metal track out of innocent French vocals with black metal distortion and a tad of lounge jazz thrown in for good measure. Quite frankly there is never a dull moment on Hallelujah, and for some this will be a deciding factor; to many it will wear on the ears and seem contrived, while to others the result of this audio mayhem will be something they never knew they were looking for but absolutely have to have. Even the interlude "Toothpaste" is filled with discord, recalling moments of a freaky independent art film with its delayed and distorted sound seemingly coming through a long tube as a voice finally calls out "All right!"

Hallelujah is something that will escape most music fans radar, which is a shame because a concept such as this deserves a chance at a slot in their music folders. With a short running length those who find themselves captivated by Igorrr's soundscape will never feel overwhelmed or bored, and if anything will be left wanting more as ending track "Infinite Loop" comes to a close (as ironic as that may seem). From baroque to dubstep the atmosphere found within Igorrr's latest effort is something only a madman could contrive, and it needs to be heard to be believed.
(from Igorrr - Hallelujah (album review 2) | Sputnikmusic)



sonicreducer's VIP Pick

Junior Kimbrough - You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough

Genre: blues

Torrents: torrents.php?id=36070

Review: Junior Kimbrough was one of the last of the authentic Hill Country bluesmen, as gifted an artist as the state ever shared with the world, and when he died in 1998 at the age of 67, a large piece of blues tradition went with him. Even though he didn't record his first album until 1992, Kimbrough's influence on contemporary blues and rock music is immense and unstated.

"Discovered" by critic and blues aficionado Robert Palmer, Kimbrough was featured in Palmer's excellent book and film, Deep Blues. Palmer was responsible for getting Junior's unique sound on tape, producing the bluesman's first two albums for Fat Possum, the tracks recorded mostly at the juke joint that Kimbrough operated in Chulahoma, Mississippi.

You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough serves as a primer for the uninitiated listener. Collecting material from Kimbrough's first four albums, along with odd live tracks and rarities, You Better Run offers an overview of Kimbrough's career and cements his place in the blues hierarchy.



mulletst0rm's VIP Pick

GWAR - Scumdogs of the Universe

Genre: Metal, Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=51314

Review: With Scumdogs of the Universe, Gwar gave its followers exactly what they wanted: brutally aggressive guitars, abrasive vocals and gross, perverted lyrics. As twisted as songs like "Maggots," "Vlad the Impaler," and "Slaughterama" are, Gwar is never genuinely scary, but rather humorous and goofy. One of the most amusing tracks is the opener, "The Salaminizer," which finds thrash's equivalent of Spinal Tap doing a takeoff on N.W.A's gangsta rap anthem "Gangsta Gangsta." The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek, and in fact, Gwar never intended to be anything more than a parody of thrash and death metal. But ironically, some headbangers actually took it seriously and exalted Oderous & Co. as the ultimate thrash band. Outrageously entertaining, Scumdogs is Gwar's crowning achievement.


dr4g0n's VIP Pick

chipzel - Spectra

Genre: 8bit

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72564784

Review: Ever played Super Hexagon? Remember how its soundtrack infected your brain and stuck with you? Well, meet the creator and her first full-length album since the soundtrack.

Created largely using LSDJ on Gameboys, chipzel produces authentic 8-bit sounds which are then turned into wonderful full-bodied tunes with post-production in Logic.

I picked this album because listening to it takes me back to my childhood, and is the most uplifting & beautifully crafted album I've heard in a long time.



gaol's VIP Pick

Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas

Genre: Country, Folk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=95761

Review:

Townes Van Zandt is better regarded as a songwriter than as a performer, and not without reason -- he was a peerless lyricist with a singular ability to capture the landscape of the heart and soul in words, but while he was a fine singer he wasn't exceptional, and the ravages of alcohol, tobacco and drugs took a fearsome toll on his voice in his last years. But Van Zandt could work magic in front of an audience under the right circumstances, and while a wealth of live recordings of Van Zandt have emerged since his passing on the first day of 1997, Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas ranks with the very best of his concert albums. Live at the Old Quarter is simple and spare, capturing Van Zandt in a 1973 solo performance at a Houston saloon with just his acoustic guitar for company, and the engineering ably captures the ambience of the room, with the audience clearly caught up in the spell of these songs. The set features 26 songs, all originals except for covers of "Cocaine Blues," "Nine Pound Hammer," and "Who Do You Love," and Van Zandt brigs these tunes to life with an easy grace that's a striking complement to the emotional gravity of his lyrics, though he also gives his lighter side an airing here, occasionally cracking jokes and offering a pair of funny talking blues numbers, "Talking Thunderbird Blues" and "Fraternity Blues." If the renditions of "Pancho & Lefty," "If I Needed You," "Rex's Blues," "For the Sake of the Song," and "Tecumseh Valley" aren't quite definitive, they're beautiful and affecting, and thanks to the sharp performances, on-point vocals, and superb set list, this is a superior document of Townes Van Zandt on-stage, and is a fine introduction to his body of work.


Lotheric's VIP Pick

Dee Nasty - Le diamant est éternel

Genre: hip.hop, turntablism

Torrents: torrents.php?id=85811

Review: Dee Nasty is one the hiphop pioneers in France and considered the Grand Master of France's Zulu Nation. Author of the first hiphop album in that country as early as 1983 he contributed making hiphop culture popular in Europe. Here is an album from 98, mixed, where he collaborates with the big DJ & producers from mid-90’s France: Cut Killer, DJ Mehdi, Faster Jay, LBR… Nice productions, France at its best.


Biiaru's VIP Pick

SAINT PEPSI - Hit Vibes

Genre: electronic, experimental, disco.house, vaporwave, future.funk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72500872

Review: Adam Downer, cokemachineglow.com wrote: It takes seven seconds for Hit Vibes to take off. Emerging from the rubble of vaporwave with the most transparently fun album the genre can claim to its murky parameters, SAINT PEPSI begins his album with a small sample of Woody Allen dialogue, like a narrator introducing the themes of a play before a closed curtain. A party is promised. A piano slides up, a crisp drum fill gives way to beefy horns, and the listener is not so much gently prodded into remembering the ritzy dance-hall sounds of disco as thrust into immediate, total immersion with a Baz Luhrmann-directed Gatsby party circa 1980. This is the album Random Access Memories should have been: vibrantly alive and brimming with wonder, not playing like animatronic robots approximating disco and funk from behind a plate of glass. Hit Vibes makes the spirit feel real, interactive, the result being a seriously seductive piece of escapist pop that, as cocaine was once described to Dewey Cox, “turns all your bad feelings into good feelings. It’s a nightmare!”

Like the dance sequences in Saturday Night Fever, Hit Vibes conjures the dance-club-as-oasis setting while harsher economic and social realities leer through the window. Or, perhaps more accurately, Hit Vibes is like the impossible party that’s happening in an advertisement because of shitty beer. It seethes with the promise of consumer culture, from the phrase “I could make it better” playing beguilingly on loop to the sound of a soda can cracked open with that commercial-specific, problem-evaporating resonance. Hit Vibes is awash in the dangerously alluring high of buying, of participating in the ad-man-invented zeitgeist glossed over with the sheen of neon lights and impeccable white suits. It’s all summed up in an interlude where a couple reaches well out of their price range for a wedding ring, because “what the hell?” For people who look at capitalism and nostalgia as opiates of the masses, Hit Vibes is a thirty-six minute piece of devil’s food cake.



jono's VIP Pick

The Lucksmiths - Why That Doesn't Surprise Me

Genre: Twee Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=52658



sargaco's VIP Pick

B. Fleischmann - Melancholie/Sendestraße

Genre: Electronic, IDM, ambient, experimental, live

Torrents: torrents.php?id=106482

Review: Boomkat It can certainly be said that Morr Music's B.Fleischmann is not one to shy away from epic recordings. He started his musical journey with 'Pop Loops for Breakfast' which also, interestingly enough, was the premier release on the then unknown Morr Music label. Since then both he and the label have expanded rapidly and his work peaked with the fabulously grandiose double disc album 'Welcome, Tourist'. Split into a cd of more bite-sized pop songs and one gigantic electronic-jazz experimentation this saw Fleischmann at the top of his game, and this kind of expanded live semi-improvisation is where 'Melancholie/Sendestraße' takes its grounding. Released on Morr Music's occasional Sound of a Handshake imprint this takes two 50 minute recordings, the first recorded live at the 'Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin' and the second recorded live for radio at Orf Sender Bisamberg. Picking up where 'Welcome, Tourist' left off we begin with crumbling harmonic layers of synthesizer building slowly like strings ready to explode into crescendo, eventually a plucked cello is brought into the mix before the piece explodes with Fleischmann's token joyful electronics. The piece builds emotively for almost thirty minutes before we're greeted with that most welcome of ingredients, the low slung hip hop beat which takes 'Melancholie' by the throat, further emphasizing the slow reflection the piece offers us until it draws to a hissing close. The second piece however takes a markedly different direction and shows that Fleischmann has a surprising willingness for the more experimental side of life. Rather than exploring the pastoral Austrian melancholy of so many of his works, 'Sendestraße' sees Fleischman cranking up his distortion pedal and allowing shards of electronic noise and dense clouds of vinyl crackle to make up the majority of the piece. Of course the patented electronic groovebox percussion is still here, as is the gorgeous attention to detail and melody, but this is all submerged beneath 200,000 leagues of overdrive. A good comparison would be the heady melodic distortion of My Bloody Valentine's classic 'Loveless', and when the pounding beat kicks in at mid-way through the piece it practically forces you into a sugared shoegazing reverence. Unashamedly uncompromising, 'Melancholie/Sendestraße' shows an artist who is not afraid to take risks, to realise his epic concepts and thankfully we have the opportunity to hear them. Maybe size does matter after all?



dugas' VIP Pick

Balmorhea - Rivers Arms

Genre: Ambient, Classical, Chamber.folk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=41282

Review: There is such peacefulness, only faintly tainted by sorrow that may as well be overplayed languor, on Balmorhea's second full-length Rivers Arms. Piano and guitar (acoustic and e-bowed electric) form the core of this gentle post-rock influenced music. Rob Lowe and Michael Muller are sketching more than developing their pieces, using airs that are not quite melodies. However, it is this very starkness, this simplicity that makes the album work. The instrumental themes present themselves to the listener without forcing the issue, without imposing, without a care whether you notice them or not. Non-intrusive if you decide not to pay attention, the music becomes picture-inducing if you do. From the romantic melancholy of "Theme No. 1" to the lullaby sadness of "Lament" and the poised serenity of "The Summer," Rivers Arms gently takes the listener through a gallery of images, each one different yet all using the same monochrome scale. (Written by François Couture, allmusic)


Spednar's VIP Pick

Kjell Anderson - Full Manifest

Genre: hip.hop, drum.and.bass, urban, instrumental

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72604930

Review: Great album I had previously planned on picking and had to squabble around with some minor details and missed the deadline. Mastered with care and sounding great. Kjell Anderson (previously producing as kjell) has stepped back from his usual upfront dnb sounds to create an album representative of a daily life in nyc...

"In messenger work, a manifest is a paper you use to record and track signatures for the jobs you're given. Most contain around 20 jobs, so if you've filled out the manifest it usually means you had a good day. This album was made to reflect a typical day in NYC for me doing this work, with the beats representing what is playing in my mind while the city provides its own unique music around me."


suy's VIP Pick

If These Trees Could Talk - Above the Earth, Below the Sky

Genre: post.rock, instrumental

Torrents: torrents.php?id=419191

Review: I saw these guys perform live back in spring 2011, and they put on a great show. I highly recommend you give them a listen and see them in concert!


ledoc's VIP Pick

Jacques Schwarz-Bart - Soné Ka-La

Genre: Gwo-Ka Jazz

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71816868

Review: Jacques Schwarz-Bart is a New York based jazz saxophonist. In this album, he explores the connection between Gwo-Ka, a traditional music style from Guadeloupe, his birth island, and Jazz.


TheFact's VIP Pick

George Russell - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note

Genre: Jazz, third stream

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71904093

Review: Box set of nine of George Russell's albums, spanning right across his career. An absolute tour de force. Recommended starting places include Vertical Form VI and either version of Electric Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature.



999999's VIP Pick

Dragon Ash - Mustang!

Genre: Alternative, Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=347333

Review: Mustang! is the first full-length album by Dragon Ash. Released in 1997, it is considered their debut full-length album and first major commercial release into the Japanese music market. While later works feature more of a rock and rap styling, this work is representative of their roots in punk rock. Mustang! is nothing similar to what was to come with their subsequent releases. This album fits in nicely with 90s era bands like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. There's even a Red Hot Chili Peppers influenced track in N.J.Soul.



Looped's VIP Pick

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Genre: Rock, Funk, Alternative

Torrents: torrents.php?id=50549

Review: SputnikMusic wrote: Blood Sugar Sex Magik is a long journey, containing 73 minutes of funky guitar tones, a man doing things to a bass no one thought was possible, a guy who eats drums for breakfast (you get 10 awesome points if you've heard that quote before), and the guy who used to be my favorite rock vocalist. There are 17 tracks here, and none of them are filler (except for the last one, "They're Red Hot.")


TKD's VIP Pick

Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs

Genre: folk, anti.folk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=57101

Review: 12 Covers of songs by the British punk band Crass, performed by one of my favorite musicians, Jeffery Lewis. The finished product is interesting, clean, and exciting.



MEPB's VIP Pick

Chuck E. Cheese - Chuck E. Cheese's Greatest Hits Volume One

Genre: pizzacore, childrens.music, pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72123480

Review: [19:02:47] <ars3nic> I dare someone to staff/AT/VIP/whatever pick the chuck e. cheese album



Becky's VIP Pick

Sara Bareilles - Kaleidoscope Heart

Genre: Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=846317

Review: I honestly am not sure why I chose this album other than it's been playing a lot lately in my queue and figured I'd share the love. Sara Bareilles is well known for a couple of popular radio hits such as Love Song, but this whole album is just fun to listen to and has some catchy pop songs in it, I think. Those of you who enjoy more upbeat pop music with pretty solid lyrics should enjoy her album Kaleidoscope Heart. "King of Anything," "Gonna Get Over You," and "Hold My Heart" definitely take the top 3 slots for me in this album. Enjoy!


caaok's VIP Pick

Yes - Close to the Edge

Genre: Progressive Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=143533

Review: One of my favourite albums of all time. Those familiar with the style will know it well, but anyone who hasn't listened to this album before should give it a shot. It's a flawless prog rock masterpiece and a great introduction to the group.



Wulvaine's VIP Pick

Midas Whale - Sugar House

Genre: Folk Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72658197

Review: Midas Whale are Ryan J. Hayes and Jon Peter Lewis (former American Idol contestant). They're from my hometown, and they're one of the only things I particularly like about it, haha. Their songs are catchy as hell and almost immediately familiar; they get in fast and never overstay their welcome, and they stick in your head in the best way. Sugar House was produced by Stuart Maxfield, frontman of Utah indie rockers Fictionist, and he brings a warm tone to these songs that evokes a bit of the classic country spirit of Johnny Cash or Gram Parsons while Ryan and Jon bring an easy charisma and chemistry that calls to mind Simon and Garfunkel or Hall and Oates at their best without particularly sounding like anyone but themselves.

There's not a bad track to be found here, but as standouts go, note the country-rock drama of Before You Leave; the gorgeous Howling at the Moon, rich with mournful pedal steel and Ryan and Jon's aching harmonies; Pacific Way, which could have been written by Jackson Browne circa Late for the Sky; and Thanks a Lot's sunny bounce and amiably sarcastic edge.



Falconor's VIP Pick

Dawn of Midi - Dysnomia

Genre: jazz, minimalism, experimental, acoustic

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72548950

Review: You will like this, or you will not. Other genres often applied to this album include electronic, not-electronic, not-jazz, dance, not-dance, classical, and not-classical.



cre618's VIP Pick

Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive?

Genre: Rock, Blues, Latin

Torrents:torrents.php?id=102927

Review: Released in 1984, How Will the Wolf Survive? is Los Lobos’ second release and the first in which the band composed most of the songs (“I Got Loaded” and the traditional “Serenata Nortena” are the exceptions). Los Lobos didn’t merely draw upon R&B, country, Tex Mex, traditional Mexican folk, blues, soul, and rock influences on this release; they took those styles and crafted their own genre, setting the template that they would expand upon over the course of their long career.



Guardian's VIP Pick

Thomas Dolby - The Flat Earth

Genre: Electronic, Rock, Electro.Rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=13158

Review: From Allmusic:
Exceptionally mature for a sophomore effort, The Flat Earth has held up considerably well since its 1984 release. This staying power belongs to a fantastic ensemble of supporting players as much as to Thomas Dolby's songwriting and crisp production. "Dissidents" steps in cautiously and conjures images of blacklisted authors and ugly snow, gray from oppression. Here and elsewhere, Matthew Seligman's bass is a welcome addition -- throughout the album his work is lavish, growling, popping through octaves, funk-a-fied and twinkling with harmonics. The title track, "The Flat Earth," is a wondrous R&B daydream of piano and Motown stabs of rhythm guitar. "Screen Kiss" has a similarly ethereal quality, and the lyrics are lush with imagery, if occasionally cryptic. "White City"'s drug reference and chugging groove are as murky as they are energizing, so new wavers might find themselves frowning a bit on the dancefloor. Then there is "Mulu the Rain Forest," a globally minded curiosity of foreboding and disorienting samples that certainly feels a long way off from The Golden Age of Wireless. Dolby gets points for shrugging off any obligation to formula, but this voodoo spell has an adverse effect on the rest of the album. What follows is certainly a graceful recovery -- his rendition of 1967's "I Scare Myself" is a balmy jazz club cocktail -- faithfully nostalgic, right down to a bittersweet trombone solo from Peter Thomas. "Hyperactive" is, and always was, one part bizarre to two parts infectious. Guest vocalist Adele Bertei fuels the fire of what was already destined to be a memorable diversion, beyond the reach of Top 40. Thomas Dolby's work on The Flat Earth harks back to a time when songs mattered more than videos, even as MTV was discovering its strength. Last time the songwriter blinded us with science; this time it's musicianship.



handrew's VIP Pick

Walk the Moon - Walk the Moon

Genre: Indie Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72235657

Review: The band's slick blend of classic new wave, tech-savvy dance rock, and mathy indie pop can be jarring upon first listen, but multiple spins reveal an impressively tight unit that understands the thin line between immaculately rendered electro-art pop cacophony and hook-friendly modern rock.


Jaames' VIP Pick

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical (Original Cast Recording)

Genre: musical, cast.recording, theatre, stage, london, showtunes

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72052625

Review: Not to be confused with the 1996 or 1978 films with the same name. This is from the 2010 musical.
At least listen to "The Smell of Rebellion" performed by Bertie Carvel with lyrics and music by Tim Minchin.



LarryLevan's VIP Pick

Spiritual Front - Armageddon Gigolo

Genre: Rock, Folk, Experimental, Electronic, Pop, Folk.Rock, Neofolk, Dark.Folk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=96854

Review: Spiritual Front has finally unleashed its full potential, assembling this masterpiece of suicide pop and nihilist rock 'n' roll. Excellent production, talented musicians, heart-breaking strings played by Matt Howden and elements from the Ennio Morricone Orchestra, plus Simone's inspired song-writing and powerful voice. Take Johnny Cash, Elvis, Swans and Mario Merola, mix everything with sperm and blood, serve warm.



retepnajaratan's VIP Pick

Shakey Graves - Donor Blues

Genre: Indie, Folk, Acoustic

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72364170

Review: What can I say? After "Doe, Jane" I was hooked.


plug's VIP Pick

Hardfloor - The Art of Acid

Acid Techno

torrents.php?id=72703498

Review: 25+ Years in and here's Hardfloor: Still Doin' It.



Magical's VIP Pick

Buggles - The Age of Plastic

Genre: synthpop, electronic, new wave


Torrents: torrents.php?id=18950

Review: I chose this particular band and album because it's one I keep going back to, it's stood the test of time and made a difference in how music was made. When it was new people took notice and either loved it or hated it. It certainly had people talking about it's content. If you don't already know this band you certainly should.



rubbersoul's VIP Pick

White Williams - Smoke

Genre: Electronic, Indie, Rock, Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=115419

Review: Infectious pop hooks with a zany collection of instrumentals that makes this a wonderfully unique gem. His smooth voice softens what might otherwise be a somewhat jarring backdrop of electro-pop tunes. A very rewarding album that you'll listen to over and over again... I promise



highsociety75's VIP Pick

Ital - Endgame

Techno

torrents.php?id=72786783

Review: Ital continues to twist the putative conventions of house and techno on his third album in two years. 'Endgame' feels light years away from his earliest transmissions of natty, lo-fi house, and much closer to brooding, minimal, modern house and techno styles, eking out a headier, weirder space somewhere between the styles of Tin Man, Kassem Mosse, and Joey Anderson, for comparison. The difference between then and now is perhaps his switch from software to select pieces of hardware, resulting in a more linear plot and liquified, worm-holing momentum on 'Endgame', no doubt enhanced by mixing and mastering from M. Geddes Gengras and Rashad Becker. Prime examples lie in the filtered techno gauntlets of 'Whispers In The Dark' and 'Dancing' or the warped pound of 'White II', and at best in the uniquely sodden skank of 'Black Dust', all adding up to an etheric, mystic sound that's strangely not warm or cold, but more in-between dimensions, at once visceral yet elusive.
Boomkat



Vanillos's VIP Pick

zunzagi - Delayed Emotions

Genre: idm, glitch, electronic

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71939789

Review: zunzagi.com wrote: After more than a year of hard work, long nights of creation and short days of listening to what was created, we are proud to present you our first full-length album — "Delayed emotions".
All tracks were created by zunzagi* in 2009-2010.



serodronin's VIP Pick



Gaudi - Bass, Sweat & Tears
Genre: electronic, world.music, psychedelic, ambient
Torrents: torrents.php?id=202056

Review: Bass, Sweat and Tears is an organic fusion of dub and nu-beat with a hint of psychedelia. (psyshop)


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