So returning to the bargain bin, I found Nil Recurring, released in 2007 by Porcupine Tree. The name by itself sold me on this album because porcupines alone are just metaphoric. That paired with the eerie vibe and the broken basketball hoop, I just had to buy it.
Nil Recurring didn't exactly meet my expectations. First of all, it was a 'mini album,' consisting of four painfully long tracks and lots of instrumental fills. My favorite out of the four, and the one I didn't think was entirely shabby, was ironically called 'Normal.' 'Normal' was just as agonizingly long as the others, but is actually had decent vocals at some points. These songs weren't so distressing as they were weird. Yes, these songs were very weird! They would break at random points to have a minute of animal noises in the middle of some songs.
After learning a little more about Porcupine Tree, my opinion of them changed from that a mentally deranged chimpanzee, to that of a commonplace hipster band pushing out the limits and trying to be 'different.' Porcupine Tree has been around since 1987 and has put out more than ten albums. For this band to still be active, I'm sure they have to have some sort of following. I understand that Nil Recurring is a concept album of songs that weren't good enough to make the feature album, so I really can't judge too harshly. But maybe, just maybe, these songs shouldn't have been released at all.
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