Men As Trees - "Weltschmerz & Sea of Ice Songs" (2xLP)

Men As Trees, formed in 2003 in Michigan, US, releases a 2-CD compilation.

The time has come to re-evaluate their work, which mixes beautiful post-rock with chaotic and intense sounds.

Weltschmerz” has never been released on vinyl, so this is the first time it has been released on analog, and ‘discovery’ from ‘Men As Trees / Dying In Motion / Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort / Dolcim,’ a classic 4-way split in the world of passion, is also included. It is also hot for me personally that “discovery” is included in the album. This was the only way to hear this band at the time. Will the maniacal 2000's passion really be understood if it is presented in the present age without a complementary context? The answer is probably no. The traces of the trials and errors of those days were what mattered. It was not about comprehensibility, and listeners knew that.

This beautiful but incomprehensible passion wears the air of that time. Go ahead. You are not wrong.

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2003年にUSミシガン州にて結成されたMen As Treesの編集盤が2枚組でリリース、美しいポストロックと混沌とした激情の音をミックスさせた彼らの作品たちも再評価される時が来た。『Weltschmerz』はレコードリリースはなかったようなので今回が初アナログ化、また激情界の名作4way splitでもある『Men As Trees / Dying In Motion / Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort / Dolcim』からも「discovery」が収録されるのも個人的には熱い。このバンドを聞けるのは当時これくらいしかなかったのだから。マニアックな2000年代激情は果たして補完的な文脈なしで現代に提示しても理解されるのだろうか?答えはおそらくNOだ。当時の試行錯誤はその痕跡こそが重要だった。わかりやすさを求めたものじゃないし、それはリスナーも承知済みだった。この美しいがよくわからねえ激情はその時代の空気を纏っている。突き進め。お前は間違ってはいない。

tracklist:
1. germinal 13:24
2. good luck to you 01:56
3. late words of a reasoning man 09:58
4. if there was any wisdom left they would send it back up the mountain 04:34
5. dead on the bank 01:43
6. swa cwaeth eardstapa 13:53
7. wreckage 03:46
8. discovery 11:53