Eli's Super Indulgent Anniversary List Extravaganza--Part III

This month marks the one year anniversary of me joining this most revered site.  I've shared plenty of music I genuinely love, and I have found some great things along the way.  However, I would like to share with you, lovely readers, the albums that have changed me the most as a music lover, rather than a music critic.  I'll spread it out a bit to give the due attention to each album, with five separate days of music goodness.


Let part III commence:

Eli's Best Extended Plays of 2011

I know, I know.  I'm a bit late to the party, especially considering I wasn't even going to talk about last year's EPs.  But in revisiting some of 2011's best extended play records, I could not sit idle by without telling everyone how exceptional last year was in regards to high quality EPs.  If you haven't picked any of these up, it goes without saying that they come highly recommended, and make for great listens before 2012 really heats up.  So, without furth ado...

Album Review: Circle Takes the Square-Decompositions Vol. 1: Chapter 1. Rites of Initiation

You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from longtime fans of Circle Takes the Square. After all, for years it seemed as though the band had disappeared, going the way of so many other groundbreaking emo bands that died before their time. Sure they've been sprinkling bits of information over the years, hinting at a follow-up to their modern classic, As the Roots Undo,but after a seven year dry spell hope for a sophomore effort dwindled. Well the drought has finally ended, as Circle Takes the Square has released their first material in almost a decade.

Circle Takes the Square-Decompositions

Experimental post-hardcore/emo kings Circle Takes the Square have quite a reputation. Odd, considering the band has only released one full-length album in their nearly ten year history. Really, that fact speaks volumes of how much their 2003 effort, As the Roots Undo effected the scene. It was a brash, unrefined, chaotic display youthful exuberance, all wrapped up in a package that seemed to have been created by a band 10 years their senior. Regardless, people still speak of As the Roots Undo with incredible fondness, citing it as one of last decades finest moments.

Seven years those people have been waiting. Circle Takes the Square have been off and on in respect to creating music, with a dry spell that's lasted the better part of a decade. However that spell will end this November, when the band releases their sophomore effort, Decompositions: Volume I. The album will be in a narrative format, detailing several stories as well as including the peaks and valleys of their debut. It's slated to be just as poetic and beautiful, with special attention once more to the lyrical content.

The wait won't be too long, as CTTS will release the album's first chapter, Rites of Initiation as a digital EP on August 23rd.