Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante (V0)

I was actually shocked to hear that Crippled Black Phoenix was releasing a new album this year, in light of Mogwai's planned release for Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will and Electric Wizard's Black Masses, released appropriately the day after Halloween. Crippled Black Phoenix is a collaboration between the two bands, among others, and has put out some of the best and, unfortunately, least noticed music over the last five or so years, beginning with the astounding A Love of Shared Disasters.

I, Vigilante is an incredible album. Although it is only a short six tracks, less than an hour, it shines as an example of the ever-developing 60s-era psychedelic musicality that only musicians as skillful as Crippled Black Phoenix could replicate. Although their previous release, 200 Tons of Bad Luck, was almost strictly a tribute to Pink Floyd, their latest finds the UK supergroup using their unique skills and senses to create something entirely transcendent their influences, similar to Stardeath & White Dwarf's The Birth following their tour with The Flaming Lips.

Soaring, crushing and mesmerizing all at once, I, Vigilante is definitely one of the most unexpected and impressive releases this year.

Download here.

Mini Mansions - Mini Mansions (FLAC)

Mini Mansions is one of those bands where you just really can't describe their sound without comparing them to other artists. Michael Shuman from Queens of the Stone Age founded the band, so there's the occasional instrumental similarity to them, but when I hear Mini Mansions, I mostly think of Elliott Smith, and I don't think I'm the only person who feels this way. On the other hand, some songs are almost Beatlesesque, and while I don't like the Beatles (I know, blasphemy), I can definitely dig this band. Songs like "Crime Of The Season" and "Majik Marker" are simply too awesome not to love. Just... just check them out. It will be worth it.

You're welcome.

Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies (FLAC)

Way back when I first started developing a real palette for music, Spiritualized was one of the first groups that I was genuinely interested in exploring. Jason Pierce's music is attention-grabbing when it needs to be and mind-numbing when it doesn't; it's one of the perfect albums to listen to for anyone just beginning to appreciate lesser known but still culturally celebrated music.

Laser Guided Melodies is Spiritualized's first release following the official breakup of Spacemen 3, and in it Pierce demonstrates once again the enormous talent that he brought to Spacemen 3 and the influence that he continues to exert on the psychedelic music scene. Each song is unique and unconventional in it's own way, and even though Laser Guided Melodies is perfectly entry-level, I still find myself going back to it not only to experience the nostalgia that I associate with it but to experience the new and vivid sensations that it brings with each listen.

A favorite song of mine is 200 Bars, mostly because of the mind-boggling that I went through the first time I listened to it. The way that each instrument layers itself over the others and is introduced seamlessly, in such an organized manner (maybe similar to Ravel's Boléro), is so impressive that I really had no other words to say than, "Oh my fucking God." This was before everything dropped out and Kate Radley's angelic voice plainly counted, "200," at which point I exclaimed, "Oh my FUCKING GOD!"

Shine a light on me.

Drink Up Buttercup - Born and Thrown on a Hook (V0)

"Is that a new Beatles album?"

That was my first impression of the album, I was 100% sure that was Paul McCartney and John Lennon singing. I was also 100% sure that was Ringo's drumming and Harrison's guitar.
And you know what, it might as well be. This album feels like its out of place in time. Like it belongs exactly at 1969 as an album that came right between the recordings of Let It Be and Abbey Road. But it didn't, it came out earlier this year by an indie band named Drink Up Buttercup. So what does that mean?
Is it awesome y/n?
y
y it is.

Lock your windows, lock all your doors and remember your seasickness pills.
(that's the only song where they don't sound exactly like The Beatles)

Download/feed your cat with music here.

Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (FLAC)

And once this spark met kindling,
Forgets its gentle ambling,
Becoming heat, becoming steam,
Becoming luminescent glee,
Atoms splinter, sparkling,
Alive and nimble symmetry,
And all along, this glistening,
Blankets we and everything,
Shadows dance triumphantly,
A wordless whisper sighs and pleas,
Little deaths envelope thee,
You and I and a flame make three.

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (FLAC)

"The album's title is a reference to a collection of fond memories and even invented ones, like my friendship with Ricky Wilson or the fact that I live in an abandoned victorian autoharp factory. The way that we write and rewrite and edit our memories to be a digest version of what we want to remember, and how that's kind of sad."

Download.

Tobacco - Maniac Meat (V0)

Tobacco brings the awesome to Black Moth Super Rainbow every chance he gets, and his solo career does not go untouched by his talent and creativity.

Maniac Meat, for lack of a better word, is just plain juicy. I can feel it pass over my taste buds and down my throat and into my bloodstream to clog my arteries. It's greasy and dripping and bad for me, but I can't get enough. This album is one of my favorite dishes. It's something different with every bite. Sometimes things are so raw. They don't taste undercooked, though. They taste grimy and wrong, but in such a good way. Other times, things are sweet. So sweet my teeth feel like they're wearing a sweater. So goddamn sweet that sugar might as well be running through my veins. Then there are the morsels that are meaty. Meaty, tough and well done. Extremely well done. Exceedingly well done.

The great thing is, it's like each time I listen, it all tastes different. But I always finish with the same feeling: happy and full.

Favorite tracks: Fresh Hex (ft. Beck), Mexican Icecream, Six Royal Vipers, TV All Greasy

My Rating: 9.0/10

Download it here.

Quest for Fire - Lights From Paradise (V0)

What would happen if Dead Meadow and Spacemen 3 hooked up and had a thousand stoned space babies? Quest for Fire seem determined to answer this question with their 2010 sophomore release, Lights From Paradise. With crunching (jaw-breaking, soul-shattering, car-crushing) guitar tones that could have very nearly been taken from Baroness or stoner rock contemporaries Black Mountain and a strings section that is just as enchanting as the vocals are mesmerizing, Lights From Paradise is stoner rock the way it's supposed to sound. Brief expeditions into folk, complete with acoustics and tribal drumming, make Quest for Fire an interesting, if not mind-warping, listen.

Strange, vacation.