Circle (the Finnish band) and other music that sounds like that supplemental sandbox thread

because I can only speak for myself, but I would like to continue talking about this band, their output, and stuff that sounds like that
even in the sandbox

i don't know how it happened, but SOMEHOW i accidentally bought this while i was shopping for xmas presents
and it is so good, but rather different than the other PO stuff i've listened to so far
i like it though -- super noisy, lots of stuff going on

http://www.svartrecords.com/shoppe/400-483-large/pharaoh-overlord-horn-lp.jpg

anyway now this thread is here for the times when i or anyone else wants to talk about this band or related bands but isn't quite sure where to put it

I've been listening to Tower lately, thanks to the ILM thread. I listened to Miles Davis "Big Fun" tonight and the song "Great Expectations" from that set reaches another level.

I listened to Prospekt again and a couple other albums on grooveshark (Guillotine, I think? And another one. Maybe Forest), and Pharaoh Overlord II and III but the above live record is the first time I have encountered a Circle-related thing at a record store, that is to say in its natural habitat and not at a zoo.

Regarding the previous thread's conversation about "who likes this band?", apparently the clerk at my record store was not among that group because he did not pipe up when I bought it. He seemed a little young, though.

Hey LWV, if I was gonna pick one Circle album from the approximately 7 million available for listening on Spotify, which should I try first? I've always been too overwhelmed by the sheer volume of this band to give it a proper go.

It was recommended on the other thread to start with Prospekt, and I did that, and was not disappointed.

There aren't as many albums available on US Spotify so I had to go to Grooveshark, where there was a lot more. (http://grooveshark.com/#/album/Prospekt/2554147)

I liked Forest a lot too, seems like if you like that you will like other stuff.

I dunno, I'm just kinda figuring it out myself.

Yeah, this band is really hard to pick a starting point because a lot of their albums sound so wildly different from each other. I honestly think the best thing to do is dive into the first one you come across, but don't be discouraged if it doesn't hit you right away. Try another one.

my faves are prospekt, sunrise, forest, and tower. of the four, prospekt is the tightest and likely my overall fave, sunrise is the most metal, forest is the creepiest, and tower is a woozy anomaly in their catalog that hits all the right 'terry riley' buttons for me.

so, if any of those sound like your thing, start there imo

also try pharaoh overlord if you are in a mood for more straight repetitive riffage

Right, I have started with Forest, simply because I liked the name of it so much. (Also I was listening to Zavaloka before that, and she's very into her forests.) I am liking this a lot, it's nicely meditative and intense yet not overpowering.

I'll listen to Prospekt next, thank you for the recommendations.

Goodness, none of the others you mention are on Spodify, so I'll just go in the order that they provide them in, and only look for the ones with Finnish titles (as there's inevitably other bands with the same name mixed in besides.)

Is grooveshark available internationally? If so, I found that there is a lot more available there. Not sure how long that'll be around at all, though, unfortunately.

idk if you get grooveshark FT but LoWV linked upthread to Prospekt just in the off-chance you missed it

xp ;)

Oh, it appears that I can access Grooveshark, I always thought that I couldn't, but it appears to be letting me now. I'll line that one up next, but I've been getting into the wibbles on Salvos quite happily so far.

you're a big loop fan, right FT? I think you'll love prospekt in that case.

both have this precise, locked groove thing going on that can be p devastating if I'm in the right mood

Yes, I like the hypnotic drone locked in groove thing, and will be happy to hear that kind of thing.

But I just got lost in about 15 minutes of mouth noises on this Infektio album which is a more loose, Can-ish thing. Which I also like just fine. :D

Alotus is another good one in that unforgivably tight style, imo.

loose, Can-ish

Brilliant Colours for Bright Ideas!

(off Zopalki, the rest of which is not loose and not so great either, but that track is the first Circle track I ever heard and probably still my favourite. no idea if it is on Grooveshark or Spotify; it's not on Youtube, alas, or I'd link it)

Oh, there's a live versh on Surface too but I can't remember it. Too many releases.

i will say hello to burnt friedman & jaki liebezeit's secret rhythms on the circle thread, maybe you folks can introduce them to a singin troll in a igloo or summat

I've given Horn (above posted PO live album) another listen and came back to offer a stronger recommendation. It's not like they've invented something new, but what they're doing they do so well that it hardly matters. Doesn't really matter at all, to me. It occurred to me also that they seem a lot like Atomic (Norwegian --?-jazz band) in that way: not really busting any boundaries, but hopping around so deftly that it's noteworthy.

Here is a link to Pharaoh Overlord #2 -- the whole thing is great, "August" is my personal fave but it's a satisfying album from start to finish. http://grooveshark.com/album/+number+2/3956501

Only PO I'm really familiar with is the live record "Battle of the Axehammer." It is of the "unrelenting riffage" variety. I listened to #3 earlier today and was pleasantly surprised by its difference from that pattern. The bass and drums were very locked in, but the guitars were all over the place. It was actually kind of mellow.

You would like #2, I'd put money on it.

I'm sure I would! There haven't been many records from this camp that I don't enjoy on some level.

Some friends of mine saw them at the Empty bottle a few years ago. One of them walked out! I was surprised by that. He said "it didn't sound like any Circle I'd ever heard before." I watched some youtube videos from that tour and didn't really understand his comment. I think he was freaked out by the way they looked more than anything. Pretty funny.

that's lame. if i had known i liked them this much, i would have gone to that show myself. oh well.

Yeah, it is lame. He enjoyed Endless Boogie's set, at least.
Digging #2, thanks for the link.

to be fair i love circle plenty but i saw em live in london whenever years ago, and they were not on fire or in the zone - nowhere close - i had no qualms about leaving early for the last tube home.
aavikko guy was wearing a zorro mask tho which kinda made up for the whole thing.