An album creates a whole; a collection of songs that together tell a story much wider and complex than they would alone. It feels like nowadays I just tend to listen to individual songs and kind of miss the big picture that an artist or a band is creating with the whole of an album. But every now and then I’m lucky enough to stop, take a moment, and listen to the whole story instead of just hearing the beginning.
All in Music
There’s no expiration date on good music, but there is a certain flavor of regret reserved for discovering an awesome band through a midcareer album’s 11th anniversary show. Boris recently played the entirety of Pink at Tavastia, a noisy, smoke-drenched, perfect experience. The band’s particular mix of doom, psychedelic rock, and avant garde noise leaves little space for any sentiment other than pure enjoyment.
The first ten seconds of Babymetal's “Road of Resistance”, the first track of their 2016 album Metal Resistance, make it clear that here's a band that means business. Still, nothing quite prepares the listener for 0:55 and beyond. But how on earth can the combination of J-pop idol vocals and the gimmicks of all kinds of extreme metal rock so much?
Transgender Euphoria
Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Against Me!’s sixth album, is a concept album about a woman trapped in the body of a man, written very clearly from the perspective of someone who has had to face this situation in real life.