No Go Know - Time Has Nothing to Do With It

Great news, intrawebs! By some bizarre stroke of luck, or perhaps simple pity by the kind folks over at XO Publicty, we are now on their press release list! This means we get to sample albums by some amazing bands who you may be hearing for the first time! For a full list of their clients, head here.

To the matter at hand, then. No Go Know, a Portland, Oregon based rock trio consisting of Scott Taylor (lead guitar, vocals), Mark Mcintire (bass guitar, back up vocals), and Sam Smith (drums), have put out their third full length release, Time Has Nothing to Do With It. One of XO's bands, I was a little skeptical when I got the email, as I was told to "think Built to Spill, Fugazi, Pink Floyd"; that's quite a lot to live up to.

Tall order aside, I really got into Time Has Nothing to Do With It. It's a loooooong record; two discs, each with 9 tracks, totaling just under 90 minutes of playtime. While there is still a lot I don't know about No Go Know and this record, the 5 or so times I have listened to it straight through in the past two and a half days is testament to its ability to keep a listener entertained.

With only three musicians, No Go Know is able to create a complex and unique sound that's as versatile as it is enjoyable. There is something for everyone on the album. Similar to the weather in New England, wait five minutes and it will change. Borderline pop-track "Thicket of Thieves" leads straight into a guitar driven rock song, "Love is War". Just three songs later, "Our Bodies Will Float" gives listeners a melodic ballad, sung sincerely and wonderfully by Taylor.

This album really is an adventure, and while the constant sonic shifting may have some would be listeners off balance, anyone who enjoys a good jam should pick up this album. I think it's a testament to the skill of all three musicians that 90 minutes of music is collected and released like this, and nearly all of it is the quality you'd expect out of a big name band like Built to Spill. Of course, like every album, it's got it's weak points, but they don't detract so much from the overall of the album enough to tarnish it's enjoyability. Yea, I think that's a perfect word for this album; enjoyability.

With that in mind, and seeing as how XO Publicity has been cool enough to let us provide a single for you all (We can't give away any of their clients for free, as that would CERTAINLY be bad for business! Sorry, mates.), you'll get a "purchase" link straight from No Go Know's record label, The Union Records. The free single is on the page I will link you to, as well.

For scoring purposes, I give Time Has Nothing to Do With It by No Go Know a solid...

8.5


http://theunionrecords.net/index.php/Band-Gear.html (Purchase Time Has Nothing to Do With It, along with all of No Go Know's other work-- hard copy or electronic download-- here)

And, before, I lied. The single can be found HERE, assuming they don't change their front page before you click this link.

Devin Townsend Project - Ki

And now I remembered a little while ago I said I was going to review both the new Riverside and the new Devin Townsend. Apparently Riverside and Those Poor Bastards distracted me a bit. This isn’t surprising, I’m terribly easy to distract. Anyways this is a bit late but I’m sure you all are just gasping in anticipation as to what I think of this album.

Of course it’s good! I don’t do negative reviews, unless there’s something that really disappoints me or makes me angry. Devin Townsend is an interesting man, to say the least. It’s always interesting to see what he’s going to do, even though I don’t really like his main band Strapping Young Lad. His solo work is just amazing, and his brief appearance on Ayreon’s The Human Equation album was also amazing. It’s a shame Arjen shafted him and only used his vocals for like 3 songs. Anyways, Ki is at times very mellow and borderline relaxing. And then it goes to metal, and back to atmospheric. Vocals aren’t bad, but certainly nothing to write home about. There are a few tracks that are just kinda boring however. It’s a good thing they are over quickly and the music returns to progressive deliciousness. This is not Townsend’s best work, but it’s still good. I’m quite interested to see what he’s going to do with his next albums. Apparently they are all going to have a very unique sound. It’s certainly going to be amazing. This one was good, but can Towsend do better? We will wait and see.

Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?ywmgzzoto3j

No password

Some Guy OUT!

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

It’s been way too long since I posted anything on here. I’m way too lazy sometimes; the internet is such a powerful distraction. In fact, if that one guy hadn’t reminded me of the new Riverside album I would probably have forgotten that I even have a blog. Stupid Preacher has a life so he doesn’t get to post much, but without me this blog would have totally died. And that would have made you, our wonderful readers (All 3 of you), sad. And then I knew what I had to do, I had to review that new Riverside album. That’s what the people want, and I was certain it was going to be awesome. However I was simply not prepared for what I was about to listen to, the most amazing progressive rock album I’ve heard since I discovered Porcupine Tree.

Riverside’s Anno Domini High Definition is simply awesome. Well everything about it is awesome except the title. Did they seriously have to add the “high definition” part? Were all of their old albums in low definition or something? Anyways, I can’t think of anything else about this album that isn’t awesome. Riverside is a band that falls in that strange void between rock and metal. Is it rock? Is it metal? I don’t know, the internet says rock, but sometimes I wonder. The sound is very heavy, with some very metal riffs and kickass drumming combined with great bass. One of my favorite things about prog and avant garde music is that you can actually hear the bass most of the time! Even the keyboards kick ass. How often do you hear that a band has awesome keyboards? Yeah, you don’t. Ever. The vocals are also pretty nice, although I don’t really like the screamy kinda thing he does. It sounds rather silly I’d say. Also, just throwing this irrelevant piece of information out there because I'm bored, the song length increases as the album goes on! The first song is like 5 minutes and the last is 11 minutes and 53 seconds, isn't that wacky?

Anyways, this album as a whole is way better than anything I’ve heard from these guys. It’s just all around awesome and I’m sure prog fans will be delighted, I know I am!

Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?om3ncyzkyz0

No password.

Some Guy OUT

The Gathering - The West Pole

So I finally get to review the new The Gathering album, “The West Pole”. I, the magnificent Some Guy, have been waiting for this one for awhile. And honestly I was afraid that it was going to suck. The Gathering started off as a death doom band but they sucked so they hired the pretty Anneke van Giersbergen so they can be one of those female fronted symphonic metal bands. Now they play atmospheric rock.

This album is indeed a pleasant surprise. I thought it was going to be terrible because Anneke van Giersbergen left to form her own band. Her replacement, Silje Wergeland is a good enough singer but isn’t nearly as hot. The best part of the West Pole is that it takes all of the good parts from previous albums “Home” and “Souvenirs” to create something that’s musically more interesting than both of them. The album is mellow enough to go to sleep to yet not boring so listening while you’re awake is also nice. I’ve heard a bunch of Anneke fanboys complaining about how the band is nothing without her and how much this album sucks, but they’re morons. This album is quite good, check it out!

Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?dob2bxyzbz4

No password.

Some Guy OUT!