Wednesday: Cloudkicker - Emfargo

     Everyone's favourite American one-man instrumental prog outfit Cloudkicker is back with a new record (I say American so you don't get your hopes up about new Chimp Spanner...). If you know what's good for you, you should check out Woum in its entirety, front to back, at least a couple of times. It's an album that's meant be immersed in -- headphones are a must.

     But just in case you're in a rush, I'll take up the difficult task of directing you towards an interesting individual track for your consideration. And while there's a couple of choices that stuck out to me on my first few listens to Woum, I feel pretty confident in pointing you towards "Emfargo", an intricate little experiment in echoes, loops, and layers. Get caught up in this one.

Cloudkicker - Garage Show

     Last Monday I prepared you for your week with a heaping dose of Metal Monday. This week I'm going the other direction in the hopes that good vibes will start your week out on the right foot. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you another edition of Mellow Monday.

     This week I'm going with another cut from everybody's favourite one-man instrumental post-everything workhorse Ben Sharp, aka Cloudkicker. There's lots of Cloudkicker stuff that could fit the bill for a more mellow Monday while still being interesting and engaging (read: not boring), but this time out you're getting "Garage Show" from 2012's Fade. It's a brief, interludey kind of a song, almost more of a jam or exploration of an idea, and yet it's got this laid back groove that just works, leaving me wanting further exploration rather than overstaying its welcome. Get to know Cloudkicker, if you don't already.

Cloudkicker (with Intronaut) - Push It Way Up!

     Fans of either post-metal sludge slingers Intronaut or one-man instrumental army Cloudkicker probably already know that the two acts did a bit of a unique tour this fall. The rest of you need to sit down and get edumucated.

     You see, Cloudkicker is a one-man home studio project, meaning that it typical doesn't do any kind of touring. But what if you're Ben Sharp and you do want to get on the road and play some live shows? What do you do then? You get Intronaut to come along as your backing  band, of course.

     Fortunately for those of us who didn't get to catch this potentially once-in-a-lifetime lineup, Cloudkicker released a live album from the tour back in November. For a taste of the magic that went down, check out "Push It Way Up!", the album's closing track. It's as rife with good grooves as the rest of Cloudkicker's stuff, and the latter portion of its nearly seven minute running time consists of what feels like an extended jam section, even if it isn't unscripted at all. Headphones wouldn't be remiss for this one.

Sunday: Cloudkicker - Digital Lightning

     Man, Ben Sharp is a busy guy. Ben, better known as one man instrumental post-metal outfit Cloudkicker, not only toured with Intronaut as his backing band earlier this year, he released a live album with them back in November. But that's not enough for ol' Ben. He's just released a new record of solo Cloudkicker "studio" material too!

     "Digital Lightning" is both one of the longest of the tracks on Little Histories and one of the heaviest, although the heavy doesn't come in the usual form of double kick or guttural vocals. Indeed, bereft of any vocals at all, "Digital Lightning" instead trades on thick, fat guitars playing big chords for the first couple of minutes before transitioning to some noodly harmonized riffing and then ending off on some doomy droning.

     At only five tracks long (the first of which is very introductory) Little Histories is almost more of an EP than an LP, but whatever you want to call it it's another fitting entry in Cloudkicker's ever-expanding catalogue. If instrumental post-metal that covers a variety of ground is your thing at all, you need to know about Ben SHarp and his baby Cloudkicker.

Friday: Cloudkicker - L.A. After Rain

     After "yesterday's" post about Intronaut and the tour they're about to embark upon, in which I mentioned how I should feature a Cloudkicker song again soon, are you at all surprised that today's post is in fact a Cloudkicker song? Really? You are? You really shouldn't be you know.

     I know Ben's been a really prolific guy under the Cloudkicker moniker, but the 2012 LP Fade was how I first came upon his work, and it's a record I really dig, so I'm going with another track from that one, namely "L.A. After Rain". If your fancy gets tickled by epic and well-written instrumental post-metal, then Cloudkicker will satisfy your cravings.

     And if Tesseract, Intronaut and Cloudkicker are stopping anywhere near you, do me the personal favour of catching the show. I will live vicariously through you.

Thursday: Intronaut - Any Port

     I'm a little bummed that Tesseract's up-coming North American tour with Intronaut and Cloudkicker isn't stopping anywhere near me, because that's one hell of a line-up. Today we're going with the band that'll perhaps be working the hardest on the tour.

     Intronaut is not only holding down their own spot on the bill, they're also doing double duty as the backing band for Ben Sharp, aka Cloudkicker. I should feature another Cloudkicker song soon (hmm...) but for now the shuffle gods have come up Intronaut so you're getting "Any Port" from 2008's Prehistoricisms. (If you follow Loud Noises I bet you can tell which Intronaut album I'm most familiar with...)

Song of the Day: Cloudkicker - From the Balcony

     If you're reading this humble little blog (and the odds are you aren't) you've probably got a pretty decent presence in Ye Olde Blogosphere, which means you've probably heard of Cloudkicker before. You likely know that Cloudkicker is the nomme de guerre for one man post-metal madman Ben Sharp, and you likely know that Ben's the purveyor of a unique brand of post-metal (for lack for a better, briefer term) and that he's also a pretty prolific fellow.