Boris - Heavy Rocks

Japanese doom/noise/sludge/stoner metallers Boris released Heavy Rocks in 2002. It starts off with "Heavy Friends" which is laden with more punk rock power chords than pentatonic stoner riffage. That mood continues throughout the album, making it more comparable to a release by Black Flag than one by Earth.

Heavy Rocks is fast-paced and hard-hitting. It demands air guitar.

Download via Megaupload (link from Sordo)

Last.fm

1. Heavy Friends
2. Korosu
3. Dyna-Soar
4. Wareruride
5. Soft Edge
6. Rattlesnake
7. Death Valley
8. Kane: The Bell Tower of a Sign
9. 1970

Gridlock - Formless

If you're looking for something dark, glitchy, and electronic, Gridlock's 2003 release, Formless is guaranteed to satisfy.

Gridlock throws the listener into a stereo lunar landscape and inundates them with glitches, blastbeats, and granular synthesis. Formless sounds like inside the brain of a crack-fried junkie, watching the streets of New York as they swirl meaninglessly around him. The tides change frequently from gentle and forgiving to devastating and excruciating, but all the while, Formless captures the beauty and complexity of the human mind.

Download via Divshare (link from Sordo)

Last.fm

1. Pallid
2. Distance
3. (-)
4. Return
5. Song 23
6. Invert
7. (-)
8. Chrometaphor
9. Scratch
10. Displacement
11. The Eighth Winter
12. Re/Module
13. (-)
14. Atomontage
15. Done Processing

Old Crow Medicine Show - O.C.M.S.

From the backwoods of bum-fuck nowhere comes Old Crow Medicine Show. O.C.M.S. is the bluegrass string band's fourth full length release. The first thing that caught my attention about it was the vocal harmony. It's flawlessly imperfect. Clearly, none of the vocalists have any classical training, but their wailing and warbling lends itself perfectly to this type of backwoods Appalachian folk music. Guitar, mandolin, banjo, string bass, fiddle, and harmonica all make appearances on songs that range from traditional pre-WWII folk songs to originals that can appeal to hipsters and hillbillies alike.

Sometimes it's slow and mournful, other times it's a foot-stomping, knee-slapping hoedown, but Old Crow Medicine Show is always a good choice.

Download via Rapidshare (link from Shareminer)

Last.fm

1. Tell It To Me
2. Big Time In The Jungle
3. Poor Man
4. Tear It Down
5. Hard to Love
6. CC Rider
7. Trials & Troubles
8. Hard to Tell
9. Take 'Em Away
10. We're All In This Together
11. Wagon Wheel

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

First things first, welcome to The Rainy Day Review! It's nothing special, just another music review and download blog.

Anyhow, down to business. I ran across this album on Afterthepostrock.com. It was recommended as "your soundtrack to winter" and frankly, that description couldn't be more accurate. Bon Iver is Justin Vernon, the former frontman for Mount Vernon and DeYarmond Edison. To be honest, I haven't heard anything by either of those bands, but it's on my to-do list.

For Emma, Forever Ago is folky, but not irritatingly so. Vernon has an incredibly unique vocal style that varies greatly from traditional folk singers. It ranges from a delicate falsetto to an aggressive near-shout, but even when it seems like he is stretching for a note, it's always within his reach. Musically, a strummed acoustic guitar dominates, but its simplicity is beautiful. Percussion spans from hand claps to what sounds like wooden-wheeled train cars clacking along a poorly maintained railroad.

For Emma, Forever Ago has become my soundtrack for winter. Check it out.

Download via Rapidshare (link from Sordo)

Last.fm

1. Flume
2. Lump Sum
3. Skinny Love
4. The Wolves (Act I & Act II)
5. Blindsided
6. Creature Fear
7. Team
8. For Emma
9. re: Stacks