Daniel Menche "Bleeding Heavens" CD
Emeralds "Allegory of Allergies" mp3s

Allegory of Allergies, originally released as a short-run double cassette on Gods of Tundra, was one of my favorites of the year, as was everything else I heard by Cleveland band Emeralds. After reading the profile on 'em over at Dusted today, I gave Allergies yet another spin. Not much going on in the interview but that seems appropriate. Music isn't necessarily the main thing I want to hear musicians talk about it (which is why Bananafish interviews were great). One telling quote is when a band member describes their early works (they've only been playing shows since summer 2006) as "simple exercises in control." I still hear mega-control, but I think they've gone beyond "simple." I'm flabbergasted, as are many others, by just how far beyond the average dude/drone scene example these kids are, even the ones who are really good. The real key is that there is hardly ever any NOISE in their sound, just sheer elegaic/haunted/spiritual inner landscapes that extend forever. The Daniel Menche album was also on my year-end best-of list, a guy who's been at it longer than Emeralds and has gotten (almost?) as deep. He does it with a lot more noise, of course, but the result is something I would also call spiritual. I guess I can't tell you exactly what I mean by that, but listen to these albums for an idea...