album of the year - 2005

look, i like music. a lot.

that said, with so much music by so many bands, some bands fall through the cracks for a while. just recently i started taking a trip through my ipod, checking to see what bands i used to listen to quite a bit and then looking them up on the internet to see what else they've been up to lately.

one such band, dredg, was a favorite of mine back in college - i had their first two albums and listened to them quite often. i forgot about them i think because they're, ah, in a category all by themselves (closest description might be "ambient progressive alternative"), a very mellow, often depressing sound... a kind of music i haven't been listening to lately (been listening to mostly hardcore punk).

i was surprised to see that they had an album come out in 2005 - Catch Without Arms - that i missed, so i searched it out and downloaded it, but didn't expect much. see, when i've got an album or two of a band that pretty much sounds the same, i expect their next offering to sound similar, and the offering after that to sound the same... and i'm not cool with that. i like bands that evolve. but i gave Catch Without Arms a chance.

the verdict? album of the year... well, album of the year - 2005.

did they evolve? ...not really. but the album struck a chord with me for some reason - their other albums struck the same chord, but not as much as this one has. as with their other records, the entire thing is a journey, with songs bleeding into one another, and is best experienced in one sitting.

I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM.

this only happens maybe once or twice a year where i like something so much i can't stop listening to it, but usually it's only for a week or two. this has been going on for 2 weeks now, and it's showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. i manage to sneak in at least two or three playthroughs of the album a night.

i'm addicted. and i can't exactly explain why.

funny side note: i accidentally started playing the album with the last song first when i first loaded it up, and somehow it just MADE SENSE. now when i load the album up i always make sure to put the last track first... then have the album end on the same song. it completes the circle better than i think they did. and i did it by mistake.

dredg. Catch Without Arms. excellent album. i'll tell you when i finally move on from it... maybe by my birthday?

- kawitchate