What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
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Perhaps it's wrong, no, reprehensible to strip Amen 2 from Mikko Joensuu's intricately-planned and undeniably-ambitious Amen trilogy. Yet here we are. Truthfully, the decision was made in regards to genre as each Amen iteration differs drastically in tone and style, Amen 2 (with its explosive Art Rock and Neo-Psychedelia) drawing the most familiarity with me. The first thing people will notice from Amen 2 is its length, clocking in at a whopping 117 minutes despite only offering eight songs. The reason for that becomes clear, and goes quite beyond the dozen padded minutes of sterile Ambient textures at the end of 'I Gave You All.' Essentially, Joensuu spends the entirety of Amen 2 begging for forgiveness over misdeeds and squandered relationships through anthemic monstrosities that build and combust with power and prevalence. The length getting there is warranted, though the patterns by which they're presented grow repetitive come 'Golden Age Of The Lowlands.'
In terms of Christian music, you'd be hard pressed to find any as dogged and persistent outside of Gospel. Yet Joensuu's sheer talent for building epics nullifies any worry one who's not religious might have. The crazy three-track run to open things - 'Drop Me Down,' 'Dying Rain,' and 'No One Knows' - are exemplary examples of overcoming assumed indoctrination with a type of impetus and perfervid anyone could revel in. Basically, combine the motivational ascendence of War On Drugs (best seen on 'No One Knows') with the melodramatic spirituality of Spiritualized (best seen on 'Sunshine') and you have Amen 2. The absolute standout though, and reason why I'm intrigued in the Progressive Electronic description of Amen 3, is 'There Used To Be A Darkness.' It's a moving, eleven-minute odyssey of pure, hyper-driven Big Beat akin to The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, or Moby. Its placement midway through the second half is perfect for quelling the delirium of crescendo that dominates Amen 2 up until that point.
B+
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1985 | Darkwave | Listen
A KITSCHY AFFAIR IN THE HAUNTED MANSION BALLROOM
While The Legendary Pink Dots are still far removed from the period in which I became interested in them (the turn of the century with Nemesis Online and A Perfect Mystery), Asylum shows their first proper flourish in accepting and properly utilizing the ostentatious Halloween fanfare their early career languished in. Here, matters are taken even further through 76 sporadic minutes of schizophrenic insanity. Interestingly enough, similarities can be drawn to the sound and substance of Ariel Pink's originating Hypnagogic Pop, best seen on the kooky fairytale farce of 'Gorgon Zola's Baby,' 'Fifteen Flies In The Marmalade,' and 'The Hill.' For the first time it seems as though Edward Ka-Spel and The Legendary Pink Dots have become self-aware of the illogicality of their music, as Asylum takes the warm and cold periods of Curse and The Tower respectively to extreme avenues.
One cool aspect of Asylum is how it slips into nocturnal madness as the LP progresses. It's an interesting experience to see The Legendary Pink Dots be stripped of their tomfoolery, but unfortunately results in Asylum's weakest efforts. The four-track run to close the album, with asterisks on 'This Could Be The End,' are particularly brutal as Sound Collage, Dark Ambient, and unfulfilling samples sully 'The Last Straw,' 'A Message From Our Sponsors,' and 'Go Ask Alice.' Where Asylum actually finds most of its success is in the middling portions, as the eleven-minute Sound Collage of 'So Gallantly Screaming' fares much better whilst surrounded by formal tracks like 'I'm The Way, The Truth, The Light' and 'Agape,' each presenting a totally new, eclectic style for The Legendary Pink Dots (Experimental Rock and Ambient Pop respectively). The potential transitionary period to something better begins here.
C
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2014 | Ambient Pop | Listen
TWO SORCERESSES SEQUESTERED ON WALDEN POND
Meshes Of Voice, Jenny Hval's collaboration with fellow Norwegian singer Susanna, charts a logical path from her previous LP, Innocence Is Kinky, to her first Art Pop breakthrough, Apocalypse, girl. There's a difficult balance between serenity and disquietude, like a scorched beauty one can't rid themselves of. The voices, light Avant-Folk elements, and occasional interruption of Noise ('I Have Walked This Body,' 'I Have A Darkness') all attribute to a wondrous landscape of otherworldly tranquility. It's quite the secluded record, and one I feel impacts Hval and Susanna more than the average listener. There are numerous recurring elements throughout the record, the most prominent of which are 'Black Lake' and 'Black Lake Took,' 'I Have Walked This Body' reappearing on 'A Sudden Swing,' and 'Honey Dew' reappearing on 'Thirst That Resembles Me.' The connection, due to the mystical, abstruse lyrics, goes right over my head.
Comparisons are had to Bjork, namely her Vespertine era, and Big Blood at their most reserved. Along with 'I Have Walked This Body' for its scaling Noise, which isn't special within the context of the genre but certainly is here, the two-part 'Black Lake' has to be my favorite. Coincidentally enough it shares not only a title with the monolithic Bjork song released in the ensuing year on Vulnicura, but the general uneasy, emotionally-fracturing tone as well. The twist to glory following a harrowing Noise puncture at the end of 'Black Lake,' with its jaunty piano medley and harmonizing vocals, is the closest Meshes Of Voice gets to purist Pop. And it's glorious.
C
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