Getting Better All The Time

Back in January, I was talking about Emeralds. A couple of things: (1) I wasn't "entirely sure yet," and (2) I had only got the What Happened cd (2009) at that point.

Then in May, I again revisited Emeralds - on the occasion of the 2010 cd release of their self-titled LP Emeralds (2009). I liked, and still do like, it better than the previous album.



And so now finally, we come to the newest one, a double-album: Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010). Best one yet! So great, there's even a YouTube playlist of the whole thing. And here's a few tracks for me to highlight now...



"Candy Shoppe" from Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

The opening track seems to be a big hit with the kids. I don't know if it's about some specific candy shoppe in Emeralds' hometown of Cleveland, OH. Or maybe a candy shoppe they visited on their tours of the world. Or maybe some kind of candy shoppe of the mind. Pretty sweet, though.



"Double Helix" from Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

This is my current theme song, when I'm a robot... A robot of DNA!!



"Genetic" [part 2] from Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

Massive ocean of synth layers, with deep currents and the occasional strong breeze, and a constantly rippling guitar. And like a huge sea voyage, it just keeps going and going...



"Summerdata" from Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

A slo-mo glitch meltdown, very much like a portion of the long-lost "Landlocked" (farewell, Lala). Although maybe faint on YouTube, the subtle bass pulses are very nice - as are the churchbell tones at the very ending.



"Now Do You See Me" from Does It Look Like I'm Here? (2010)

There's guitar in many corners of Emeralds, but rarely does it drive a whole song. But this is stately jam, with chaos enveloping a phased melody that kinda reminds me of Ween (a bit).


Those are some good songs, which I mainly picked due to having readymade videos of interest. There are more. O yeah, and the dearly-missed "Landlocked" from my original Lala free "purchases"? I downloaded in FLAC format from Boomkat... niiiice.

Amorphous Synth Burble

Part 2 of two, covering some different style synth action. Whereas Jonas Reinhardt (see previous) pulsed directly to the heart of matters, Ohio's Emeralds diffuse everything to an extreme.

Landlocked - Emeralds

Emeralds give Pocahaunted (we're getting to them) a run for the money in terms of productivity. "Landlocked" is their half of a tour split with Pain Jerk (Japanoise). There's some kind of Side A/B tour cassette, and a limited/OOP 12". Plus a full cd album, and maybe others... And that's just 2009!


"Geode" from Emeralds (2009)

That's from the self-titled vinyl record. In the Best of 2009 lists, it was odd how often someone would list either only that one or only the cd release, but seldom both. I've only got the cd...


"Alive in the Sea of Information" from What Happened (2009)

Now, getting to the music! Deploying the Harmonium line-up (2x synth, 1 guitar), Emeralds apparently just improvises on and on and on... Then they pick out the best stuff and that's their material. I mentioned how you won't lose where you are within Jonas Reinhardt. Well, you're very probably going to lose your way in the world of Emeralds - regularly. Song sections barely exist or move, pieces just drift to the surface temporarily before submerging. Most often not noisy, it's from another even more ambient part of the Krautsynth heritage. And honestly, sometimes it's New Age sounding, or it can remind me of Paul Simonon talking about his brother listening to Yes. "I lifted up the headphones, and there were just birds twittering." He wasn't being complimentary.

I'm not entirely sure yet. I like some of it already, sometimes it seems like stuff I could like with some close listening, and sometimes it just seems like messin' around. But even if just messin' around, they're undeniably pretty good at it.

What Happened - Emeralds

Just checked their discography: in 2009, there were actually two tour cassettes, plus a split-cassette, and another 7" I didn't mention in the original summary. Plus lots of stuff in the previous few years, plus apparently the three guys are pretty active in releasing solo and side projects.

How I Spent My Lala

When you sign up, you get 25 free songs (unlimited streaming listens, not downloads) - and one month to choose. Much like my iTunes giftcard "purchases," I wanted to use these wisely. Nothing I would be buying officially, nothing I would listen to only once.
O yeah, and maximum audio per credit, of course...


Jan 17: "Charlemagne & Pippin" (2009) by Black to Comm
1 track, 36 minutes long.

Picked this while being blown away by Alphabet 1968 (2009). I'd heard his other stuff was less song-oriented, but this was also released last year. Couldn't be more different: this is much more drone than the album. But I'll come back to it eventually.



Jan 19: "Landlocked" (2009) by Emeralds
1 track, 29 minutes long.

I posted this in the earlier Emeralds post. Seemed like a good pick, since it's not around to buy anywhere. And I've liked it as much as anything else I've heard from them. Score!



Jan 23: The Disintegration Loops (2003, 4xCD) by William Basinski
9 tracks, 5 hours of music.

Four cd's, at $13+ each (plus S&H), that I might pick up gradually under extreme conditions. Haven't even listened to it, but already this was the perfect choice. The story is interesting, worth reading, and convinced me the music would be worth exploring too. Pitchfork doesn't hand out 9.4 reviews to a ton of 4xCD ambient/drone projects, not that I'm aware of.



Jan 26: Ricochet (Live) (1973) by Tangerine Dream
2 tracks, 48 minutes.

I've never seen or even heard of this album. I'm not totally convinced by Alpha Centauri (1971) as of yet. So, I wanted to try something during the peak of TG's powers. Since I can drop into many stores and get Phaedra or Rubycon, I chose the live album. Also it's really sweet mid-'70s ambient Kraut synthscapes - live!!



Running out of time (and ideas), I used the last 12 songs to build a custom Astral Headspace Best of 2009 Lala playlist!! Sort of. Since my Lala ID is "Astral Headspace," maybe some listeners will stumble over here...

Best of 2009

Maybe I should have picked up some Abruptum??