Mayhem "deathcrush"

I read the book "lords of chaos" in 2004.  It a biographical look at the birth of the modern black metal culture. The book recounts all the music, murder, arson and misanthropy of the culture.  I was fascinated.  Here was the culmination of what our parents feared about heavy metal.  It's extreme almost cartoonish end game. I started avidly buying black metal CDs  while reading the book.  A huge chunk of the book is dedicated to the band #mayhem and it's circus of murderous arsonist members.  I ordered the "deathcrush" mini lp online since I couldn't find it at any local record stores (man, how I miss Home of the Hits). At first listen I was a little disappointed, the legend of the release was already so infamous that it was a real tall order to fulfill my expectations.  I was immediately impressed by the diversity of the tribal drum intro and the spooky keyboard passages.  The problem was I was listening to this album 17 years after it's 1987 release.  Music had gotten much more extreme.  Once I found that perspective I grew to love this release.  If I had heard this in high school I would have been enamored instantly.
I was hooked on the black metal. I approached it in an archival manner.  I was determined to listen to all of its essential releases and find the new strains of grimness.  In an event of pure synchronicity I walked into Record Theatre around this time and someone had traded in their black metal collection. It was a dark treasure trove.  I begged the staff member I was familiar with to save the CDs for me and I returned with more money than I should have spent.  The quest that had begun with the book and this disc was now in full insatiable swing.

The Dismemberment Plan "emergency & i"

September 11, 2001.  It's an infamous day for Americans.  Ask anyone where they were on that exact date and they can tell you. It was a horrifically sad event.
September 12, 2001. A handful of us wandered to the Mohawk Place in a daze to see the band #thedismembermentplan .  Everyone there was reeling, we were talking about trying to reach friends in NYC. We were all talking about the tragedy and the pending count of human life lost. Really none of it had settled in yet, we were all in shock.  There weren't many of us at the music club. But those of us there knew each other and it was comforting to see familiar faces.  The band took the stage solemnly.  The vocalist talked about the need for us to be together. The need to cope and heal. The roles music and art have in such a dire time. They launched into their set and played all the the thoughtful indie rock I wanted to hear from this terrific album.  For a little while that small room filled with loud music was all that existed, it was a welcome reprieve.  The show ended, we hugged each other,  thanked the band and wished them well on the remainder of their tour.  On the way home that night the car I was in hit and flipped an ambulance onto it's side. Such a surreal couple of days.
This cd is an eclectic indie rock affair. Guitars and keyboards intertwine in syncopated rhythms. The singers nasal warble paints intimate pictures of belonging and longing. It's a great disc (it's also out of print but worth shelling out a little extra moolah for it)
Check out the song "you are invited" a dynamic welcoming gem.

Husker Du "candy apple grey"

This #huskerdu album was my premeditated breakup album before I really ever had a girlfriend. Another gem introduced to me by the drummer in my first punk band, this isn't Husker Du's best album but it is my favorite.
We all envision our lives as movies from time to time, I think the detachment can help us cope with difficulty and help us magnify our joys. We all know the really good movies have really great soundtracks. Seasonal songs, love songs, driving songs and yes... breakup songs.  This cd contains a batch of great indie boy/girl "don't need you anymore but I'm too depressed to get off the couch" tracks.  As a teenager I was developing quickly into a romantic, I fumbled through crushes and botched interest from the fairer gender while searching for some movie - like romance.  I always wanted to be one of those John Cusack roles (while I was actually closer to one of those Anthony Michael Hall characters )
This album was an awesome feeling-sorry-for-myself set up. I languished alongside the band even if I had to live vicariously through their music.
Skip the first caustic track "crystal" on your first listen.  I have always felt this would have made a better cathartic album closer.
If you don't include "don't want to know if you're lonely" on your next breakup mix I will eat my hat.

Bouncing Souls "maniacal laughter"

In the mid-'90s I was the art director for a punk t.v. show called "Punk Uprisings".  I got the gig because the producer had seen my art in some fanzines and had tracked me down. The show was videos and interviews with punk bands and was played during infomercial time slots.  I got to do a bunch of art for the show and became a contact for bands.  I was informed that the #bouncingsouls had written the theme song for the show and she was sending my a copy of it. I had already been a fan of the band's debut album so I was excited to hear it.  I received a package from their bass player "Papillion ", it contained a cassette with the theme song on it and this cd. I briefly corresponded with "Papillion" (who turned out to be Bryan). Bryan also did the art for the band and he layer became an awesome tattoo artist. I wish I had kept up with that penpal.
The Bouncing Souls play romantic punk music. That's not to say all the songs are about girls (though a bunch seem to be) they are romantic about being punk.  They convey what it is to find the treasures in a day to day life, they can turn mundane experiences into adventures. They can write songs about how cool it would be to have a BMX bicycle.
The band just released a new album and I'm anxious to pick it up. It's kind of like catching up with old estranged friends.

Pedro The Lion "winners never quit"

With the election looming this fall I was reminded of this concept album by #pedrothelion "winners never quit".  I love concept albums.  It probably started when I discovered the story behind Pink Floyd's "the wall" as a young teen.  The fact that each song was a chapter in an album length story was extremely novel to me (oh joyous play on words). It's very cinematic and adds delicious layers to the abstractions of music.  It's not that this disc is great at delivering an acute tale, it's doesn't.  It's about as loose and foggy as a concept album can be while still being called such.  Though I think the strength here is in the poetic rather than literal lyrics. It's more like a story board album. Snapshots from a bigger picture.  The story I get from all this is a brother's ascent and fall in politics with mariticide, alcoholism, parental favoritism and blind faith in God's reward all playing roles. The lyricist David Bazan let's you connect dots he's mapped out and it makes for a fun thoughtful listen.
This record revolves in my playing list coinciding with presidential terms in office. Every four years I'm reminded how much I like this cd and I'm reminded how much I generally think politicians are sleazy egomaniacs.

Alcest "ecailles de lune"

In 2009 my ex wife and I separated for divorce. Through a friend I was able to procure an awesome apartment in the lower west side of buffalo. The place was two floors in an old brick house and was much more room than I was looking for, I had fantasized about a spartan studio apartment for my lonely guy lifestyle but for the "friends only" rent I couldn't turn the place down.  It had taken me a while to get used to the new underfurnished surroundings, but it was exciting none the less to steadily reacquire all the trappings of modern life.
I remember standing in my kitchen one morning watching my coffee brewer doing its job and since a tattooer doesn't start til the crack of noon an early bird like me had plenty of staring time. I had discovered this album and played it often at that time.
#alcest play an ethereal shoe gaze strain of black metal, and as the band has evolved there has been less and less metal in their releases leaving them in a dream pop sort of territory.  On this cd though they retained some screamed vocal passages and staccato picked guitars to sharpen the edges of the wistful dreamy parts. The lyrics are sung in french so as a non-speaker they become vocal abstractions which adds nuance without distracting imagery.  I would stand in my kitchen during those dark late winter mornings in a fume of brewing coffee half wondering what the vocalist was getting at but not really caring.  I didn't want to hear someone else's sad story I just wanted a sad comforting song bird as a distraction.  Alcest were a comfort during that time.
The band has just announced their new album to be released this fall, it's a perfect time for one of their discs and I'm excited for it's release.

Jesu "s/t"

In 2005 I was roasting coffee in a factory on Buffalo's east side. I had gotten into roasting coffee as a craftsman. I worked in a specialty coffee store where the work was creative and diverse but I was lured away to the factory where the salary was higher but the work was soul suckingly routine. I had been doing in for a couple of years and my mp3 player and headphones were the one thing that kept my sanity during those endless days of same.
For many years I had been a Godflesh fan, so when I heard that Justin Broadrick had a new project I bought it sight unseen.  I loved the cd on first listen. It's heavy, slow and melodic melancholy shoe gaze music. It's sad and beautiful compositions that slowly envelope you with effects drenched guitars that sound unlike guitars (much in a My Bloody Valentine way). His slow subdued croon was hinted at on the last Godflesh album "hymns", and even though it's heavily processed in #jesu the vocals relate a very dream state human condition.  It all really fit in with my factory experience.  I listened to this album constantly during that period, and I have bought every subsequent release unquestioning. His sizeable  discography has gotten more melodic and has maybe sacrificed some of the "heavy" in later releases but I still really love these albums.
He has since resurrected Godflesh and I was fearful that jesu would fall to the wayside but he remains amazingly prolific and releases this flavor of his art under the moniker still.