Eluvium | Static Nocturne

Matthew Cooper's Eluvium has already released Similes this year, which still sits somewhere within the 5-10 list of albums of 2010. Although long followers of Eluvium were displeased with the addition of singing and percussion, I felt Similes is an incredibly heartfelt album and I feel like the addition of vocals really helped me fall in love with the melodies even more.

But what do I care about the fans...

If this was a response to the fans or not, Static Nocturne is an incredible 50 minute opus of gorgeous ambient drone and breath stopping atmosphere and samples, and it's completely void of the things that pissed off the fans with Similes.

I shouldn't explain the atmosphere this song creates, although it may be blatantly obvious the musical environment the sounds deliver, I feel every person can find there own unique world within this song.

If you want an idea, read this short paragraph from Matthew Cooper himself:

"I am ultimately a fan of sound in a much larger sense it is from rain falling, the ocean swelling, the wind picking up cars driving by, train yards, box fans, etc.. etc.. etc... the amalgamation of these things creates a wonderful comfort to me and it is in this "static" that ideas and music come to me the mixtures of these elements create the chord changes and melodies or are the foundation by which they are found there is nothing more comforting to me in the world than the flood of this vibration at a constant ....."Static Nocturne" is an ode to the process by which inspiration finds me and an homage, of sorts, to this foundation of noise..."

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It may be too soon to say but I think I may end up liking Static Nocturne more than Copia.

Intronaut | Valley of Smoke

1. Elegy
2. Above*
3. Miasma
4. Sunderance
5. Core Relations*
6. Below
7. Valley of Smoke*
8. Past Tense

* - stand out tracks

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I vaguely remember making a blog post about Intronaut's previous record, Prehistoricisms, which blew me away immediately. It was a giant upgrade from its predecessor, Void, which also kicks ass, just not as thoroughly.

On my first listen of Valley of Smoke I wasn't so impressed. There's now clean singing and a lot more reverby, spacey parts. Sounds right up my alley. In fact, it is my alley. So why didn't this click right away? It's because although the band progressed accordingly with clean vocals and a lot more atmosphere, they didn't progress experimentally. In all honesty, Prehistoricisms may still be the better album due to the fact that this band maxed the fuck out in experimentation, especially for this genre. That record is ridiculously groovy and WEIRD and weird in a very good way.

With that said, on second and a half listens of Valley of Smoke, this CD is fucking AWESOME. Yes, maybe they couldn't expand too much upon what they mind-fucked me on with Prehistoricisms but it's as if they took their own influence from that record, and the parts that really stood out and expanded upon those parts instead.

Although it's not my favorite song, I do want to mention the title track. It is essentially the two best songs on Prehistoricisms combined. The 16 minute "The Reptilian Brain" and "Any Port" merged into a half sized, 8 minute jam. This one featuring Justin Chancellor from my beloved Tool. The guitarist again, like in "Any Port" is jamming the drums on this track, but a full kit instead of two toms. So let me map this out.....two AMAZINGLY talented bassists and two drummers at the same time are ripping your mind apart with endless patterns and signatures on this track. It's not as incredible as "The Reptilian Brain" or "Any Port" for that matter but it's still a wicked track.

Either way, overall, this band still has it. If it continues to grow on me at this pace it may make the top 10 or 15. Dig it.