Listmania!: Top 10 highly recommended depressive albums

Always wanted to do lists! And there's no better time if you have work to do at home, Saturday night, looking for excuses. OK, let's start w/ some seriously suicidal albums. They're so strong, so black and so REAL they help you see the light, they make you feel there's always worse. Soothing. Evaporating.
In no particular order:

SONGS: OHIA - "Ghost Tropic"
Bodies burning away in the black night. In the tropic of cancer disease. Voice moans but nobody's left there to listen. Kind of album you have to listen to alone. Every time.

CRESCENT - "Collected Songs"
Had a visual of the recording sessions of it in my mind. Then i found the LP and did had a small image of the studio room itself. This is fucking it! This album is the stained gray carpet in that room. In every rehearsal room. The one you stared at so many times. Making dreams.

KING BLACK ACID & THE WOMB STAR ORCHESTRA - "Sunlit"
When i hear the word "epic" i'm automatically thinking of two things: A medieval body armor and this album. 60 minutes equally divided into three songs. The compendium of cheesy depression into the endless depths of the soul.

THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION - "Three"
Feels like taken away on ships of gold. Ships that meant to sink. But you didn't know. You didn't know.

WIPERS - "Is This Real?"
For the times you remember how it was to be a teenager. OK, get over it now. This album is here to teach you some anger management. Your voice has the strength and the power and can be transformed into something so direct, so eternal, so real. You CAN make it real.

THE SHADOW RING - "Lindus"
Manic depression. There's nothing left, maybe there never wasn't anything at all in the first place.

SCOTT WALKER - "Tilt"
Even though it's polished, it's so gloomy. And scary. You don't mess with it.

JOY DIVISION - "Closer"
Banging your head in a metal cell. You can't do it w/ force. But still, aches. Decades of decay.

BILLIE HOLIDAY - "Lady in Satin"
Not of this earth. Vintage nostalgia. You think how cool would be to be living in Paris in the late '60s, broke but in love. Every single night lasts for a week. Parties at houses everywhere, minimal lights. And the voice of Billie as an eternal soundtrack that every minute gives you a chill.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - "Dust & Chimes"
Guess it has to do w/ death itself. Every time i listen to it i come closer to digest the idea that someday i will be just dust. And after that, nothing.

Also, Patrick Phelan's "Arch and Effort" and "Crippled For" from the album Parlor + Microphones' "Universe Conclusion" from "Live in Japan" are definitely making into this.

Video of MephistoMe Installation

Heart's strong

Black heart is even stronger. The ideal soundtrack for all my catatonic phases. The perfect drug. Fight fire w/ fire. Almost a decade later*, they returned to the country which loves all the melancholic bands (but The Black Heart Procession is no Puressence nor Madrugada) w/ the founding members of Paulo Zappoli + Tobias Nathaniel enriched by a dynamic, chaste rhythm section. Naked, rich songs straight from the black heart. Almost all highlights from their six records were performed, although that wicked Waterfront alternate take from their previous visit still haunts me. I silently begged for a repeat... i should have shouted.

* Washing Casper opened that previous gig at AN Club (!!!) - if anyone has any pictures to share, gets a pack of the three upcoming Phase! releases!

Intent: mayhem

Getting busy at work + at home. Work really gets all my body fluids, saving the brain ones for the after hours at the shelter. Three fantastic releases will be out next week. One cassette by Reverse Mouth, their first release for 2010 - imagine they had 11 out in just 2007 - called "Savage Queen". Minimal and insistent high frequency guitar feedbacks in maximum audio quality (well, this might be a little lie). The other two come in CDR format. First comes the long-awaited new cosmic audiosphere by Lunar Miasma (the artist formerly known as Red Needled Sea, also of the great Insult Recordings) under the title "Circle Ray", to be followed by Arklight's freshly done prolific avant-dadaist "Caution Tape". Is this a "YEAH" or what?
Been meaning to write some live reviews of shows i've recently been, but that won't happen any time soon. Actually, as days go by the less i remember. One thing to mention now for sure is Bazooka, a band from Athens, Greece and none of the 12 exact matches on Discogs. When i saw them live i totally understood why they picked this name. 2 drumsets, 1 guitar, 3 vocals by 3 young free spirits to blow away every fucking everything. Shared the aspect of doing it right w/ the right pair of balls. Bazooka balls. Go buy their self-released EP (more like an album, actually) or do an even more real thing: GO CHECK THEM LIVE!

Guerrilla wizardry

The night ended w/ a police car trying to avoid to step over a carpet placed on the asphalt, just outside Guerrilla Cinematography. They didn't wanna exploit the party. Guess they were feeling awkward.














202Project played first. Minimal programming for the beats + some extras and live guitar + vocals, some synths once in a while. Basement filled w/ joyed division. His songs were cool, but set was a little bit long. He played great, though.














Adam_is made his first ever solo performance, dressed in a jade + gold Mephistopheles costume. The first 30 minutes we (anti)grooved w/ some ambiance loops, some pitch microtouches, some analog patchworks in general. The set took off w/ some high pitch metal zone minimal obsession to be transformed into an urban sewer ritual. Mikes also put on his mask on to finish the set w/ a magic trick. We all witnessed the wizard hands.

Nobody gives a shit about the truth

Dead Gum's latest release is uploaded on the outside my window blog.

The Finnish touch

Last night Booze felt woodsy. Kukuruku Recordings, Vinyl Microstore + Strange Attraktor are responsible. Kuupuu's collage set had bits of quirky percussion and easy listening nostalgia. Unique and ethereal. Lau Nau started off w/ an awesome harmonized cover of 'Holy Mountain' score and then continued on w/ her stripped folk. They jammed together in the end and that was the best part in my opinion. Pity it wasn't recorded and is now eternally lost. Also, Michalis Adamis & Bend made an awesome screenprinted poster for the show.

(PHN-01) FRAGRANT FAMILY - Live at DBA, Brooklyn MP3

First digital-only release by Phase! Records Net Junk, kindly hosted by Archive.org, is a raw and chaotic live document by the trio of Jay Dunbar, Brian Osborne and Panagiotis Spoulos. 2 wrecked guitars and a drumset blend w/ psychotic prosa. Nothing left to prove.

Get it here for free, of course:
http://www.archive.org/details/FragrantFamily-LiveAtDbaBrooklynphn-01

Reparation time

Vinyl Microstore partied hard last Saturday. Sounds and images from another decade. Teen age repressed. We felt free. Chain and the Gang. Acid Baby Jesus.