triggerhappytraitor

Live in Berlin

Hymn To The Immortal Wind :: click

finally something new to post and a great start to 2009!

Gregor Samsa - Over Air

did you listen to this yet? If not, get going..... it raaawks!

click to view

so, London, The Underworld, TWDY playing soon
Just met half of the band, great guys, interested in an idea I have, PR related of course....

First band (the death of her money) not my taste, 2nd band (mom) just started, much better

TWDY up next, Friday again in Berlin

I am as done with the site as I will be :)

The only thing I havent yet done is the comments (on CDs) form, as I dont like the old version and havent found anything more suitable yet...

... I'm taking way too much time with redesigning the site, and I'm not adding music...

Well, the site design is almost finished, I just need to get the rating system fixed. The one you see now works, but it reloads the page, which sucks, especially when you're listening to music. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get that rating system working so that it doesn't reload the page, so I'm searching for a new one, which will also allow me to import the existing ratings.

And why haven't I added much music recently? Simply because I haven't found anything worthy for a while....

...so, its been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but I did add a couple of CDs

Good to see we now have over 4000 ratings, good work!

I will be updating the site design soon, keep your eyes posted for some dramatic changes :)

just realised I never got around to upping some ASMZ images from their April gigs in London. Please note, these are crappy quality

click to view

The year has been pretty fruitful for all of us post-rockers, and I've added lots of stuff to the site, but the past weeks have been quite dry. Have I missed some good releases?

If so, hook me up by letting me know via the contact link in the footer...

Out of boredem, I added random quotes to the site last night (look up)

So now its over to you: If you can think of any fitting Post Rock quotes or lyrics, use the contact form (link in the footer) to send them to me, as well as the relevant band name

So here I sit, with 10 copies of the Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles CD. Thanks to the band for sending them so fast!

Aaah, the pleasures of the interweb...

• Friday afternoon: Band recommended to me
• Friday evening: Listened to aforementioned band
• Saturday morning: mailed band with request to purchase CDs
• Saturday afternoon: band responded with details
• Sunday morning: band confirmed receipt of payment
• Monday: still listening to the band

and there's a lot to celebrate... my wedding, my birthday, and of course the release of the wonderfully different new Sigur Ros CD

check it out

Enjoy!

... for a few days at least. I'm getting married tomorrow and I dont think Ill have mch time during the festivities and following honeymoon to add much music...

have fun the next few weeks, and keep post-rockin'!

click to view

... when Icelands favourite export is involved.

Yes, you got it, Sigur Ros have just released the first track from their upcoming 5th album for free download

Head over to http://sigurros.com to get it, and remember, strangeness isn't a bad thing :)

.. so somebody recommended September Malevolence to me a few days ago, I checked their myspace, searched online, and found a few CDs, including their latest. While their CDs are OK, one track has blown me away...

Who watches the watchmen, the first track on the new CD, has something strangely appealing. I'm not really a fan of vocal post rock, but theres something about the lyrics as well as the intonation on this track thats like a breath of fresh air. Somehow reminiscent of Peter Gabriels earlier works (or maybe its just me thinking that), it awakes a spooky and cautious atmosphere that the melody then rips to pieces

Imagine my pleasure to discover theyre playing in Copenhagen next week where Im going to be all week...

And if the band happens to read this, feel free to play this track (as well as untitled) a few times :)

It probably doesnt sound like a big deal, but having lived in Germany and having to import any CD (apart from Daturah) is a pain... thus my surprise to see it mentioned.

rough translation: Post Rock defines an attitude to conventional rock more than a music style. Post Rock bands avoid the classic rock scheme (Stanza, Chorus, Bridge) and the fixation on the central person, normally the singer. The same with ASMZ from Montreal, Canada: Their long songs have an ambient-like, repetitive structure and meaningful titles. ASMZ are 6 and integrate Contrabass, cello, violin and mandoline, next to guitars and drums. Their music oscillates between quiet and loud outbreaks and always sounds somewhat like the end of the world. Through their introverted, sinking demeanour, the band seems evem more mysterious live, and they count as one of the most respected Post Rock bands ever.

click to view

unfortunately I don't have all of the track names, but they're all here

Note the awesomely, insanely good Bigmouth Strikes Again, City Breathing, and some missing releases from GIAA, Days for AIrstrikes, Pelican etc

I'm starting to encode and upload all tracks this weekend, so don't worry of certain tracks don't/won't play, its probably because it's being uploaded as you try and play. You won't see an error message, the track just won't play

Update: This is taking longer than expected, it'll be a few days until I have the lot done. I also have some new stuff that I'll upload, expect that by the beginning of next week.

Update: Done, new stuff on its way now

so here we are again... I finally had a little time on my hands this weekend due to a stinking cold, and as there wasn't much music around for uploading, I decided to redesign the site.

The design is based on something by StyleShout (see footer), however I had to change it considerably to fit the content. During that process I lost the W3C compliant standard, but it works in FF and IE on WinXP and Leopard, so it'll do for now...

Three tasks still on the list:
1) fix the search
2) change the encoding rate of the music (192kbps instead of 64kbps)
3) port the comments from V2 to V3

happy surfing!

Unconquered
The starlight silent night
Maybe they will sing for us

Time is flying and I am so busy that it's getting hard to update the site as often as I would like to...

In case you didnt know, I started a new job a few weeks back, and due to that I'm travelling quite a lot. On top of that my internet connection at home has been flaky, and in London (where I now work) I dont yet have a connection.

Anyway, Ive just upped 5 CDs for you, including the new and fantastic Rest from Gregor Samsa. Enjoy!

It's exactly 2 months and 1 week since this version of THT has been online, and the rating system went live at the same time.

Today, we reached the fantastic figure of 1000 user ratings, which is pretty damned awesome since I havent done any advertising for this site at all.The release rated most often as of today is Ef :: Hello Scotland Remix EP which is also surprising as I only recently added it, and its rating is 2.3.... goes to show that you all tend to voice negative opinions before positive; Highest rated releases are available here, as always.

Great work folks, keep on rating the releases, and feel free to start leaving comments too :)

I havent forgotten you all, loyal Post Rock listeners :)

I started a new job at the beginning of the month ans=d was out of the country for an induction period. As of next week I'll be working in London.

Apart from that, I haven't found anything for the past few weeks worthy of posting which surprises me.

Seriously, I was fortunate to get a listen to the new CD "13 Blues for 13 Moons" the other day, and I was blown away...

While certainly not being Post Rock in its classical sense, it has all the necessary elements. The community has coined it as "Protest Rock" which is fitting, and anyone with an eclectic music taste, and the willingness to give their ears and minds into a CD for an hour or two will apprecite this.

ASMZ (this time named as "Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band" as on Horses in the Sky) have somehow done the impossible: Their 6th album captivates from the start, shows perfection in grabbing the listeners attention on an emotional level, and builds up marvellous tracks that carry you along like a leaf on a breeze. To top it all off, the lyrics are as enigmatic as can be expected from the band, and with the rusty and croaky voice surrounded by the back up singers, singing painfully and effortlessly, it is easy to understand how come this band has such a dedicated following. Top Track: Blind Blind Blind

I actually forgot to mention, TWDY arrived and its already online here. Listen and enjoy, its a great CD!

So while i'm waiting for my TWDY to arrive, I've been searching for new stuff. Suprise surprise, I found some. Check the "Added" section for Jan 08 for You.May.Die.In.The.Desert, Set Fire to Flames, Pirate Ship Quintet, Moving Mountains, Last Vote, Esmerine, Cue, Blueneck and Beware of Safety....

Using RSS feeds from last.fm, you can now search for events by band. Ideally I wanted to do events by location too, however their APIs dont contain that information....

What a year this has been for the genre.... Not only releases from many well-known bands, but a huge amount of newcomers to the scene have provided some fantastic debut albums and EPs. Check out the list of best releases from 2007 to get some inspiration as I am sure there are CDs on there that you don't yet know, but will be glad to have found.

Here's looking forward to a great '08!

So, while on a temporary assignment in the US of A, I've been dabbling around with this site, adding some releases and artists, and wondering how I can improve the site. Well over the past few weeks, I finally got around to doing it instead of just thinking about it, and ThT v2 has been deleted :)

As you can see, the sites got a whole new look and feel... You can rate releases now (just click on the stars), you can comment on releases, and in general, you'll be able to get wherever you want to go with less clicks than in the past.

I've also decided to remove the Events section of the page... originally, I intended to add last.fm feeds based on artists, but that proved harder than I expected, so while I think about how I can do it, Ive turned them off.

If you find any issues or error messages, let me know, and I'll iron them out.