Skip to main content

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic

https://www.debaser.it/files/2007%2F17383.jpg

        King Crimson is a classic 70s progressive rock band with a unique jazzy sound that makes their music very fun and interesting. If you have heard of King Crimson at all, you probably at least know of their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King, and its popular song, "21st Century Schizoid Man". Although that album is undeniably great, I actually prefer this album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic
        The first song on the album, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I", begins with a peaceful soundscape made by the sound of wooden wind chimes. Eventually, this transitions into the sound of frantic fiddles. The tension slowly builds as the fiddles get louder and some guitar and improvisation on what sounds like a found object drum kit is added in. Suddenly, a loud, sludgy guitar riff blasts through, completely taking you off guard. Like a lot of king Crimson songs, this one is full of interesting experimental jazz and improvisation.
        Another of my favorite songs on this album is "Easy Money". This song begins with a reggae like melody, and once again makes use of found objects unusual instruments to create a kind of uneasy sounding and interesting melody.
        Just like part 1, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part II" is another winner. This song is full of all kinds of interesting jazzy melodies that create all kinds surprising and sudden jumps and changes. I'd describe it in more detail, but really you need to hear it to fully appreciate it.
        What makes this entire album so good is the surprising twists in the music, the interesting and jazzy melodies that constantly keep your attention, improvisation that is noisy and erratic, yet somehow flows perfectly with the everything else; the result is one of the greatest progressive rock albums of the 70s.

Comments

Popular

The Jesus Lizard - Goat

        Since I just reviewed Big Black (see my review of Big Black - Atomizer here ), I thought it would be appropriate to review another highly influential noise rock band, The Jesus Lizard. The Jesus Lizard is strongly influenced by Big Black, especially because Steve Albini, the ex frontman of Big Black, is their recording engineer. I think "recording engineer" is a title Albini made up, but it's basically the same thing as a producer. According to him, the difference is recording engineers solve problems in capturing sound, while letting the artist have complete control; on the other hand producers will often take control and ruin records. The Jesus Lizard's music often features a mix of low rolling guitars and bass, harsh shrieking guitars, slow drums, and weird shouted muffled vocals.         It's kind of hard to tell, but the cover of Goat is a naked woman with some image projected on her. To be honest, I'm ...

Pink Floyd Albums Ranked Best to Worst

Man, its been a long time since I've posted on this blog. This doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be back to posting regularly, but this is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands, and I've been listening to them a lot recently, so I decided to make the official, definitive list of Pink Floyd albums from best to worst. That's right, if you disagree with me you are wrong. Just kidding, but enough joking around, here it is! One of the few photos of all members of Pink Floyd together. (Left to Right, Top to Bottom) Nick Mason, Syd Barret, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, David Gilmour #1 The Wall Yes, The Wall is my favorite Pink Floyd album, come at me Floyd purists. The Wall is one of those albums that fans like to say is bad/overrated retroactively because it got too popular, also maybe because it has a sound that is much different and more accessible than a lot of their albums. But regardles...

Agalloch - The Mantle

"A celebration for the death of man..." "...and the great cold death of the Earth" The names of the first and eighth tracks come together to create a perfect description for the mood of this album: It's harrowing, it's dreary, it's the soundtrack to the world slowly dying. The Mantle is the second studio album by the American blackened post metal band, Agalloch. If you want to know what blackened post metal sounds like, imagine black metal, way slowed down, and with some doomer guitars thrown in. Agalloch is especially good at throwing doomer guitars, and as a result has created some of the best music in the genre. The band created five great albums, but their  pièce de résistance  is The Mantle. The songs on The Mantle sound desolate and mournful in a way that feels almost terrifyingly relatable. Chilling song titles such as "A celebration for the death of man...", "In the Shadow of our Pale Companion", "You Were but a Ghost in ...