Best New Albums of 2017 *

This has been my favorite so far.

 

Don't be surprised.
I never heard of them until your post. Pretty good garage rock.

I do like this video for "Please yourself"!
Pretty cool gimmick to take over an intersection of a busy street an provide a short rock performance before the cops chased them off.

 

Much like. Listened to your clip and was gonna ask if the entire album was this good...then realized that the link was the entire album. Is this really their first album, Heron?

 

Their first album as a band, but they aren't kids anymore, and some of the members have been playing together for years... below from their Facebook page ...

Genre
Instrumental / Post-Rock

Band Members
Ben Blick - Guitar
Boyd Lewis - Guitar
Eric Morelli - Bass Guitar
Nathaniel Blick - Drums

About
Heron is a post-rock instrumental collective hailing from northwestern Pennsylvania.

Biography
Heron is Ben Blick and Boyd Lewis (guitars), Eric Morelli (bass), and Nate Blick (drums and percussion). The band has its creative roots in Ben and Nate’s literal backyard in rural northwestern Pennsylvania, where they started making music together as teenage boys in their parents’ shed, playing old-school hardcore. Years and bandmates came and went, and by the mid 00’s, the brothers’ style had evolved into more of a post-hardcore, progressive rock. This creative transformation continued over the next ten years, as the brothers began exploring instrumental music, and reached its destination in the formation of Heron in 2015 when Ben, Nate, and Boyd got together one evening just to “jam”. Eric completed the quartet six months later, and the group began creating the collection of pieces that would become "You Are Here Now".

Influences
- The Appleseed Cast
- This Will Destroy You
- Explosions In The Sky
- Pink Floyd

 

I was really let down by that Grails record, if I'm being honest. But this post makes me happy, because I wasn't aware that there was a new Samsara Blues Experiment record out! Great news!

 

Burning Off Impurities and Deep Politics are two favorites by Grails. I've only played the new one a couple of times so I'll see how much I eventually get into it.

I pre-ordered the new SBE from their web store and don't know when it will ship.
Have you listened to any of Christian Peters' (Surya Kris Peters) solo projects?
I recently received the vinyl version of The Hermit.

 

My problem with the new Grails is the turn towards incorporating more synth work in the sound, going for the whole John Carpenter vibe. Which is fine, but I don't think they pull it off as well as some others (S U R V I V E, Carpenter himself on the new records, Zombi).

I haven't heard any of Peters' solo works, but they are now on my long list!

 

I haven't heard much by SURVIVE or Carpenter but I've been into Zombi for awhile and have several of they're albums.
Initially, I found Chalice Hymnal to have a more subtle and melodic synth sound and less "mechanical" than other things I've heard.
Over the years I've only dabbled in electronic music since I've always been a guitar driven hard rock kind of guy.
But I try to be open to variety even though old habits are hard to break.

 

I'm a huge Zombi fan, and I would add Steve Moore's soundtrack work to that list. I'm planning to give more time to the new Grails for sure, I suspect I might feel more open to it with more exposure. I think I was just expecting something different, especially since I first approached them more from a riff-heavy metal point of view. I do love how open they are in absorbing influences, but I was just underwhelmed by Chalice Hymnal in comparison to how much I loved Take Refuge in Clean Living and Doomsdayer's Holiday, not to mention the Black Tar Prophecies.

 

I absolutely agree with that. I expected something heavier when I saw the new album.
It was bands like Grails, Elder and The Machine that first got me into the psych, stoner, metal, doom style of music.

 

I saw this weekend that Elder's new one is on the horizon as well, more exciting news.

 

The next album from White Denim (whenever it appears).

 

Started listening the the new GAS Narkopop last night, and turned into "an otherworldly journey to the depths of rapture and reverie" (as borrowed from the leadoff in the nice review at KOMPAKT.FM // Narkopop // GAS ). Put it on again this morning, and now I want to stay home from work and just listen all day, very relaxing, really gets deep into your consciousness. Wolfgang Voigt is really one of the best, the way he can transport you, and give you the sense of being outside when maybe you're stuck sitting at your desk in a small cubicle behind a computer. First GAS album in 17 years, and it's a good one, each separate track a subtle shift from the last one, leading to a continuous sense of motion. Nice.

Is anyone getting the 3-LP Artbook version? Looks very tempting ...

 

Gave this a spin on Tidal this weekend....fell asleep within a few songs...which for most music genres isn't a good thing but with this kind of music it's not really a bad thing to get so calm and into the 'world' being created that you slip into sleep without planning to.

 

I just ordered this, along with two other Dollyrots albums. They were offering a special deal for them over the past weekend.

 

Did you get the three vinyl record package? That looked cool. It includes Barefoot & Pregnant which is another good one.

 

I had to take a look around. Promising.

 

Yes, three albums, plus a few other goodies for $25.

 

They were mentioned up-thread, that Rolling Blackouts C.F. EP is so good. Makes me psyched for an eventual full-length from them.

 

Surfer Blood "Snowdonia", is good from start to finish..

 

Oh, they keep tumbling on in - Ryuichi Sakamoto's new one - async (out April 28th) is currently streaming and is a thing of beauty.

The tagline is: "Music for a Tarkovsky film that does not exist"

Stream Japanese Electronic Pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto's First Album in Eight Years

 

Jamiroquai - Automaton

Metallica - Hardwired

 

Just FYI that Metallica was a 2016 release.

 

All right! Sounds like lively '90s rock music to me, something you'd hear on a summer album. I loved "Ivy Tripp" and am really looking forward to this one.

 

Really late to this party, especially after all the other enthusiastic posters earlier in this thread, but this album is a blast. Thanks for the tip!