I think this a great choice. Faces are an underrated band not often talked about in the scope of ’70s rock. Their output was limited but they put out some great tunes. Three Button Hand Me Down, Stay With Me, and of course Ooh La La – all classic stuff.

Ellen’s crowd wasn’t ready for that psych-outro.

Second this. Really glad this underappreciated band is getting some love on this site, but that box set is so incredible it kind of renders the list itself unnecessary.

Fucking crazy man, did you know where you lived was going to be ok or were you under the same storm warning as the area that got hit?

After Dark 2 is great. I’d never listened to Glass Candy before, I really love that chick’s voice. I also love the monologue in “Warm in the Winter” about coming down from heaven and our everlasting light. This has been a pretty amazing couple of weeks for spoken word electronic music.

Comment section cred… We are all a bunch of fucking dorks

It is truly a great period for heavy music. Pallbearer, Kvelertak & now Deafheaven.
All different. All nearly perfect.
I normally avoid Black Metal specifically because of the vocals. But it so works here. The record is like a metal symphony. With the voice just being another bruising instrument. Oddly, for dark heavy music, it is very uplifting & positive (similar to Pallbearer’s Sorrow… & Kvelertak’s Meir.)
Fuck the traditionalists. It’s good to see metal breaking away from the cookie monster.
\nn/

It’s weird to read about how easy this record was to make, and stuff like Pitchfork saying it’s their funniest album or whatever, because to me this sounds like easily their most emotionally tortured record. Then again, I have been reading and hearing a lot of people saying that High Violet was a super dark/ anxious/ self-destructive record, and to me HV is their most upbeat. So maybe I’m just weird.

Excellent choice! Always good to see one of the greatest & most under-appreciated RnR bands getting recognition. I know it’s a comp, but Five Guys Walk Into A Bar… is a GREAT place to start.
From allmusic:
“Simply put, there’s never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band’s entire tale and explains exactly what the fuss is all about. If you love rock & roll with an all-consuming passion, you may consider the Faces the greatest rock & roll band ever. And you’d be right. Other bands were certainly bigger and plenty wielded a stronger influence, but the Faces were something unique, an endearingly ragged quintet that played raw, big-hearted rock & roll as hard as the Rolling Stones, but with a warm, friendly vibe.”

Crazy week. A big ass tornado ripped up thousands of homes 20 minutes south of where I live and work. I’ve still yet to see the damage in person, but my job this week has been to comb through the massive amounts of video coming in from our photographers. It started out as heart wrenching, but that’s was quickly stymied by the overwhelming outpouring of help and support by my fellow Oklahomans.

I’m helping put on a little benefit show with some local bands and spinning records in between on Saturday. Using music to help in only a way that it can.

It was comforting this week to come here and see everything ticking along as usual. That new Boards of Canada song was a blessing and the After Dark 2 comp is slowly unveiling itself as another Italians Do It Better masterpiece.

So it may still seem silly to some to celebrate top comments. But I can assure you a Miguel leg drop and the thought of tailpipe vocoders makes wearing a smile on my face that much Yeasier.

Thanks for the good week ya’ll.

Hell of a good write up here, Michael. I usually go for sludgier stuff when it comes to metal, but I’m really enjoying this album. These songs might as well be bathing directly in the sun, they’re that huge-sounding.

have The Chameleons sued DIIV yet?

Meh…

I was actually going to say it sounds tired and/or overdone. This is nothing special.

F1RST

Pity Sex is a horrible band name. The fact that this is even an issue in the comments section is an indication that it’s distracting and stupid.

Holy Hell. Just heard “Dream House” for the first time. I LOVED this line:

“I guess you’d call them interludes? That term makes these moments on the album feel insubstantial or inessential, which they’re not, but they’re also plainly intended to be experienced and understood as connective tissue rather than organs or bone.”

I’m guessing, based on “Dream House”, that these interludes are MANDATORY comedown/comeups for the heavy blasts of songs contained on this album. I’ve always viewed interludes (let’s call ‘em that) as a beautiful way to make great songs even greater on an album.

Call me crazy, but when I’m done listening to a huge, epic song, I’m not ready for another huge, epic song. I need a bit of a comedown, something to help my mind process what I just heard. Based on my trust in Michael’s musical taste, I’m hoping I just found one of my go-to summer albums… until Fuck Buttons comes out… because *GOB voice* COME ON!

p.s. Your review also got me to look into this “Marrow of the Spirit” album. I’m a metal idiot but it seems like this album is incredible?