The Harvey Girls – The Harvey Girls (2005)

Imaginary Albums

• Indie pop/rock 
• Art pop 
• Alternative pop/rock 
• Jangle pop 
• Experimental pop

Comment: The Harvey Girls` 9-notch outing can be considered a classic indie pop album where jangly guitar-based templates are mixed up with synthesised effects and with some electronic music around it. However, recent understanding of indie music is already changed because the synthesisers have conquered the scene and mostly the result used to be quite cold and making no difference. There is no naivety, there is no belief for better future. Frequently all is changed into a repellent electronic gross. Do you like such combos as Kasabian, and 1975? I do not like them. Do you like Primal Scream in the year of 2016 and 2017? I do not like it. However, Primal Scream`s Vanishing Point (1997, Creation) is one of the best albums throughout the time. The album starts off with Green Light, the first chords of it remind of Pulp`s Do You Remember The First Time. I like if guitars and synths are balanced on a release or the artists trying to avoid lame synthesised sounds (for instance, The Smiths` album Queen Is Dead, and Strangeways Here We Come, and Blur`s Blur, and Mercury Rev`s Light In You, and Animal Collective`s first five albums, and Sufjan Steven`s albums are great ones with regard to it). The point of mine is also related to the belief that sonic effect based approach cannot replace solid songwriting. The Harvey Girls succeeds doing it. The album embraces catchy melodies and experiments due to song structures and sounds. It is filled with hirsute noises and gentle jingle-jangling sounds, with expressive and restrained moods. Furthermore, I could not resist singing in unison by female and male voices. All is craftily balanced on the album being released under Imaginary Albums.

Dildo – Febbre (2005)

Laverna

• Alternative 
• Art pop 
• Electronic pop 
• Breaks 
• Indie 
• Jungle 
• Breakbeat

Comment: this is an offbeat dance pop and breaks mixed outing. There are represented three tracks with slightly different intentions and approaches but in overall it is all about rhythmic alchemy. So take your listening time very carefully to find out all the subtle shades and faint borders from within it. Loose rhythms are variegated with more determined and compelling torrents – from artsy indie and subdued yet lurking electro pop to noisy jungle and blasting breakbeat appearances. Female and male voices are cutely intertwined with each other to create the counterpoint to those violent rhythmic progressions (especially at Industria). Dildo is the trio of Elena Pongoli, Gabriele Mendi, and Fabio Macor and these tracks were recorded in 1999. This solid impression is a bit in the discography of Laverna.

Vincent Casanova – Cosmic Bikini EP (2005)

Epsilonlab

• House 
• Tech-house 
• Club dance 
• Electronic music 
• Electro house

Comment: first of all, it is quite annoying to review house and club music related issues because those ones are quite orthodox by its nature except if a style is still in the beginning of its formation. For example, Vincent Casanova's 4-notch outing is a strong statement through electro house and tech-house pathways. All the mandatory elements which make music loveable are nicely represented over there - catchy rhythms, iterative rhythmic patterns, hovering synthesisers atop. At times you will forget yourself in the midst of those trance-inducing gaits. What else to add? I like the title. Even more I would like to know who is supposed to wear the cloth? The outing is a bit in the discography of Montrèal-based imprint Epsilonlab. Solid work.

Tyrone Miller – All These Moments (2005)

Redstarcommunity

• Synthwave 
• Alternative 
• Kosmische Musik 
• Indietronica 
• Electronic music 
• Dreamwave 
• Shoegazetronica 
• Drone pop 
• Post-psychedelic electronica 
• Neokrautrock

Comment: before reviewing this handful of tracks I had got in mood while listening to The World Won't Listen by the Smiths, an album I bought recently. Musically it might be a different case yet by attitude one can perceive on it this seems to be quite analogous. First of all, it is music for lonely souls to provide an ennobling boost for them. Tyrone Miller's music continues to trudge the vein created by the Manchester legends to be represented in progressing way. It does mean guitars and the drums are traded to synthesisers to create a moody effect for lonely souls. /You are sleeping you don't want to believe/. If you watch the date of the issue you can parse it was released before such styles as chillwave, dreamwave, and glo-fi started to emerge. By listening to it one could step back in time even more far. I guess one might relive the era when some shoegaze inflicted bands started to deviate from their main hazy guitar driven path while searching for new pastels and rhythms (Slowdive, Seefeel, Moonshake, Mark Van Hoen's solo projects). Thirdly, you cannot ignore influences of Kosmische Musik, and Krautrock either. Yet the aforementioned names are just some vague orientations to understand the artist's beatific world of sounds. The result is great and the process of how these layers are organically intermingled with one another to be the source for angelic higher chords and indirectly for one's blissful memories. The issue is a part of the discography of Redstarcommunity. 

Rob Steady – Ask No Lies (2005)

12rec.

Free Music Archive

• Glitchtronica 
• Folktronica 
• Alternative pop 
• Indie-hop 
• Art pop 
• Electro pop 
• Primitronica 
• Sampledelic 
• Hip-hop 
• Crossover 
• Urban music 
• Acid 
• Chiptune 
• Glitch electro

Comment: I guess the first listening time of this outing may be quite confusing because it is problematic to embrace the nature of the issue. It starts off from nothing as if arduously popping out from glitched-out chords and shrill frequencies and electronic clockwork mechanisms. All is pitched up, all is compressed to a higher sonic range. All seems to be destructed and messed up to create a new foundation for something quite off-kilter and special. At times one can recognise it to be a hectic mix of folk and hip-hop and electronic effects and at a time it will be traded for chiptune-ish bleeps and rusty electro appearances or crawling old school industrial-tinged nihilistic rhythms or unexpected samples to come in and then leave the place as quickly, for example. However, by starting the second round of its listening all seems to be clearly otherwise - the initial words of mine seems to be ridiculous and false (at least partly) because the consciousness of mine has changed throughout the course. Describe no lies. I do not know is it either about a primitive approach or very incisive sophisticated platform. Or these statements are adeptly intermingled with one another. By listening to the issue one will walk the puzzle off. However, you are lifted up from a micro level to the macro level. One is sure – it is an accomplished outing. Get it into your cerebral spheres. The issue is a part of the discography of 12rec. . 

Skism – Skism EP (2005)

12rec.

• IDM 
• Experimental electronica 
• Alternative 
• Nu jazz 
• Avant-electronica 
• Glitch-hop 
• Crossover
• Experimental hip-hop

Comment: this set of 10 tracks is the only work by David Grogan aka Skism who at once had lost all of his tracks while his PC crashed. Fortunately some of them could have been rescued from the digital pit. This must have been an extremely pitiful incident because the aesthetics unfolding in front of our ears is something truly consistent and bewildering. While listening to it for first times you get information about the album of being very technical and at times massive and even provocative or nihilistic by its nature (jungle-y Shell (Swift Mix)). The more you get immersed in that the more layers will be opened up around you. For me, the issue is a good example or fact to prove the hypothesis that glitch-hop was remarkably influenced by IDM (intelligent dance music) being very prominent throughout the 90s and in the first half of the 00s. Indeed, it is an exuberant lab where David Grogan creates something ahead of its time because in 2005 there was not glitch-hop presented in the underground scene (I guess he was one of the first mavericks within it). There are also up a couple of visions of (nu) jazz music by him, one of them, Stodj is a favourite track on the outing due to cinematic progressions and a lush, sunshiny panorama revolving around the merry axis of rhythms. In truth, the issue does not involve any weak tracks at all. In a word, the album must be considered a classic one and David Grogan is genius. The issue is a part of the discography of 12rec. .

Eloi Brunelle – Psychotonic EP (2005)

Epsilonlab

• House 
• Electro-house 
• Electro 
• Alternative dance 
• Club dance 
• Robot pop 
• Italo disco

Comment: that's cool that there are up some issues under Montrèal-based imprint Epsilonlab waiting to be listened in my mp3 player. One of them, Eloi Brunelle's 4-track outing is already here to be enjoyed and analyzed. If you are enjoying club dance in the vein of house and electro then the recent issue and the imprint are thought to you. It is fairly tickling to listen to these slightly nervous electro propulsions being dynamic and mind-blowing at the same time. Secondly, this is a plateau to cross poppy vibrations with robotic, technical dance. More profoundly, one can hear almost unremarkably slippy developments to come from one phase for to splice with the next one. Indeed, these are up magic moments to say us we are just human beings who are searching for a medium to connect one's inner space to God's power. For instance, listen to Perfect, the Italo disco killer. It is thoroughly transcendental due to the shamanic iteration on tinny bass rhythms. It involves transaction, it involves transmission, it involves love, it involves even more love. That's perfect. With regard to each case, with regard to it as a whole.

Yonatan Levital – ...and Monkey (2005)

Birdsong

• Lo-fi
• Indie folk 
• DIY 
• New Weird Israel 
• Pychedelic folk/rock 
• Experimental folk/rock 
• Improvised music 
• Yacht rock 
•  Field recording

Comment: it's great pleasure to be back again at the discography of Birdsong, an Israeli imprint which does not release albums anymore as I have understood. Fortunately there are up a lot of albums worth to be discovered. For example, this 12-track issue was released 11 years ago reflecting partly upon tendencies being actual at the time. One of the categorisations of mine was New Weird because the artist uses a DIY and lo-fi/bedroom recording approach to accentuate his naive folk and indie drenched preferences. On the other hand, it is comfortable to generalise something being out of the centre and outsider yet involving many different facets. More profoundly, there are up detuned tinny guitars and low-end synths and a sitting monkey in the sheepskin jacket additionally to Yonatan to provide something tickling and exciting and flesh out your fantasy. From nowadays (free)folk approaches to storytelling and American Primitivism in music, from improvised moments to light-hearted, carnival-alike yacht rock roundabouts, from vivid found sounds to introverted guitar twanging. That's great – all these audible and imaginative elements and contrast between them.

The Wades – Greatest Hits (2005)

Comfort Stand Recordings
Free Music Archive

• Punk rock 
• Post-punk 
• Alternative rock 
• Indie rock 
• Americana 
• DIY

Comment: similarly to other genres there is difference between punk and punk. Between tedious and interesting punk. The Wades' 13-notch issue (which is obviously the oeuvre of the group) is the latter case because of providing at times humorous interludes, stubborn DIY aesthetic and frequently borderline punk/indie numbers where one can discern the influences of roots music thereof being unmistakably American. The accomplishment of these ideas is a cut above as well. At times being loosely noisy and anarchistic like Sonic Youth, at times being politically poignant, however, revealing its thick cultural layers being set up on one another. The only exception is New Direction, a song being written by Gorilla Biscuits. Last but not least – the issue was released on such label as Comfort Stand Recordings which had been a platform for innovative and uncompromising sound in the first half of the 00s. In a word, get the legacy of this great combo of Alicia Wade, and Chris Wade.

Endos – Pure Sound (2005)

Panospria/No Type

• Glitch 
• Sound art 
• Ambient noise 
• Avant-garde 
• Minimal techno
• Ambient 
• Musique concréte 
• Experimental electronica 
• Electro-acoustic 
• Micronoise 
• Experimentalism 
• Acousmatic music 
• Psycho-acoustic

Comment: by listening to this 5-track issue by the Montrèal, Quebec, Canada-based duo Endos which consists of such experimenters as John Brennan aka Johnny Naughty, and Shane Turner aka Turner Of Wheels it did evoke many thoughts and dormant sensations to surface. Of course, it comes out from Montrèal, which is a fertile soil for every kind of art, including the music, including the experimental sort of music. Tim Hecker, Martin Tètreault, Muhr, Simon Trottier, Nicolas Bernier, Akufen, a loads of GYBE-related projects. Let`s add to it a bunch of other artists who have been involved both with the city and in such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Constellation, Where Are My Records, Camomille, Epsilonlab, Panospria/No Type. Indeed, the recent issue which initially was issued in February of 2005 is a part of the discography of the latter labels. For me, it is an outstanding issue due to its fluctuating nature being somewhere between a ghastly noise fractal, glitched-out incantations and concrete sound-based hazy reality, however, one could never forget the issue is produced somewhere in the northern hemisphere somewhere quite close to the subarctic latitudes. Furthermore, it sets up my brain to think of it as an emotional one though it does have nothing in common with superfluous and wasted emotionality of the pop artists. The final track White Dots, Red Bubbles is a little poppy in its sentimentality though having nothing in common with brainless pop artists. As I have already said its is a truly praiseworthy outing. It is the pure sound.

Veem – My Friend The Voice (2005)

Hippocamp

• Electronic music 
• Ambient 
• Synthwave 
• Alternative
• Indietronica 
• Ambient pop

Comment: by depending on a listener this 8-track issue might sound either making a lot to happen or being just minimally built up. For sure, there are up a bunch of sonic elements that enrich the whole palette of the recording, which in general used to base on ambient pop/space pop structure it kind of just cruises throughout the course. With regard to the album’s title one could hear (the human being’s) voice, though, being represented in a small amount. At Wormhole the artist exploits guitar chords to lay down more natural sensations in the recording. The aforementioned sonic elements establish contrast against the slowly moving cloudy ambient undulations. Ultimately at the end of the release after some listening times on loop you could recognize it is a decent issue being issued on Manchester-based imprint Hippocamp 11 years ago.         

Modern Peasant – Silk Rope (2005)

Mediafire

• New Weird America 
• American Primitivism
• Anti-folk 
• Drone folk
• Experimental folk
• Psych-folk 
• Art folk 
• Avant-folk
• Free folk 
• Improvised music

Comment: by listening to the album Silk Rope by the artist Modern Peasant I guess it evokes many thoughts within the listener’s head. First of all, it chimes as a modern equivalent of the so-called American Primitivism movement, being established and popularised foremost by such artists as John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke. Musically it does mean it is filled with warped and extended guitar chords as if they were played on the prepared, vibrant instrument. As I already denoted the album to be a modern equivalent of the style the first part of it hints at intriguing electronic sounds, arousing sonic effects and some suggestive noises within it. However, the artist must be praised due to having the inner measure line in itself to balance these compartments in a moderate way. Because of the aforementioned contemporary part within the artist`s music Silk Rope could be pigeonholed as an exemplary of the New Weird (America) movement, for instance, having much in common with Ben Chasny’s Six Organs Of Admittance, and the French experimental folk duo Natural Snow Buildings` droning landscapes full of beatific magic. In a word, the result is enchanting providing fare to your soul and heart. Initially this 8-track issue was released on an Asheville, NC-based netlabel, Epicaricacy, what at the moment is very hard if not impossible to dig up. The issue truly deserves to be disseminated through thousands of headphones and loudspeakers over the world and universe. It is very rare and precise. 

Dubsy Asylum ‎– Lo Sono EP (2005)

Hippocamp

Archive.org

• Electro pop
• Electronic pop
• EBM
• Alternative pop
• Ambient pop
• Industrial electro
• Electro-indie
• Acid pop
• Alternative dance
• Dark electro
• Leftfield pop

Comment: it has always been great delight to go back to the discography of the Manchester, UK-based Hippocamp of which list contains a bunch of gems. Indeed, Manchester is being the home city of many crossover groups between electronica, alternative dance and guitar driven music. The only bad habit by the imprint is not to release the coverprints of albums. Dubsy Asylum`s 6-track issue is the sort of. It is an instance of great electro/electronic pop, however, having not forgotten its indie and art pop roots. It could be said it is an example of indie music either. Even more – the artist explores the interface between the aforesaid genres in a more profound way thereby it could be considered as a cutting-edge artist. For instance, Something for The Oldies chimes like a chill-out composition where the light-hearted guitar chords constitute fabulous patterns with overdriven acid synth whiffs and shuffling drum brushing. It is followed by l' infacto which is an astonishing cut-up electro propulsion with acid pop synapses and tumultuous rhythm changes. The issue is finished off by a blissful glimpse called Morte e Sorto which shows up fondness for subtle ambient pop and post-classical music thereby slightly reminding of a mid-period Kraftwerk (Ralf & Florian), for instance. Moreover, these 23 minutes (almost 24 minutes in total) involve many audible dark shards which would be an integral part of a quintessential industrial, EBM, and dark electro combo. In a nutshell, the outing is a pre-eminent shift between the approaches of electro, indie and experimental music. 

MonoCulture – Lawn World EP (2005)

Surfaces

• Glitchtronica
• Indietronica
• Crossover
• Modern classical 
• Organic electronica
• Lo-fi
• Experimental electronica
• Folktronica
• Musique concrète

Comment: MonoCulture provides an issue of describing quite expressively audible Zeitgeist regarding modern music in the first half/mid of 00s. The listener can perceive an exquisite amalgamation of modern/post-classical, folk, lo-fi, concrete music and glitched-out and experimental electronic snippets. By perceptive side it chimes in a lurking way throughout the course and because of it this makes difference of utmost extent. On the other side, because of having a common part with many genres yet being neither one nor another style while making difference regarding the idiosyncratic side of the release. Even its temporary naivety is likeably appealing. In a nutshell, the result is impressive in its picturesque shifts within the different compartments. 

[Teaser of the day] Ail Fionn - Saz/Mandolin Jam 1

Archive.org

• Free folk
• New Weird England
• Improvised music
• Pych-folk
• Drone folk

Artist: Ail Fionn

Release: Les Hourquets, March 2005

Label: Self-released

Year: 2005

Feeel - Music for Uneasy Times (2005)

Samsa

/Improvised music, Electronic, Avant-rock, Leftfield, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Improvised noise, Experimental rock/

Comment: there are up three long-running compositions based on improvised sessions full of feedback fuelled and distortion induced debris. Indeed, as the title assumes this time it is without any word games. Only the artist`s name “Feeel” designates something of an extraordinary brand probably related to overwhelming sensations which have surfaced after the listening of these 35 minutes. At times those more or less acute noise torrents will slightly abate to be replaced with quite dismal emotions conjured up by a mix of nervously plucked guitar chords and taps on the acoustic guitar. The final track Everybody's Talking About the End of the World is more rhythmically oriented on account of heavily distorted electronic/big beat cadences which soon will be modulated into more messy shuffles and later will fade away to symbolically unite the ending point with the beginning one. The second part (more concretely, Act Two) involves buried singing/chanting for providing more living images within the composition. Predominantly the issue is a quicksilver drift between the compartments of improvised noise and experimental rock, at times reaching spiritual climaxes inside each of the pigeonhole, at times providing more transmissive parts. Let`s partake in that monster.

Monade - Variety Playhouse 2005-05-25 (2005)

Southern Shelter

/Indie pop, Alternative pop, Psychedelic pop, Drone pop, Dream pop. Live session/

Comment: Monade is a musical project from Bordeaux, France whose spiritual leader is Laetitia Sadier who is widely known as the singer, guitarist, keyboard player from Stereolab. Furthermore, it could be without to draw parallels with her more known combo. This live gig features 12 tracks at a length of 64 minutes. It involves a soup of guitar and psychedelic keyboard blended sounds getting inspiration from the rhythm patterns of artsy German rockers like Neu!, and Faust and other side being influenced by tropicalia pop, bossa nova, and lounge pop. If to compare it to Stereolab it involves less crossover and electronic experiments rather being channelized into a mellow indie/renaissance pop structure. On the other side, it reminds of an early Stereolab which provided more clear-cut ditty shapes of indie/drone pop/shoegaze. In a word, it is a fine listening hour.        

The Love Songs ‎– Some Protest Music For Today's Youth (2005)

Lastfm

Swift Music

/Post-rock, Ambient pop, Drone pop, Indietronica, Experimental rock, Musique concrete, Organcore/

Comment: these 33 minutes are fairly gorgeous ones because Sven Swift provides a flawless set of concrete sounds, balmy noisy impulses based either on vague post-rock templates or sublime drone hovers. At times these elements will be bent through some experiments on pitched effects or will be channelized into ecstatic signal-alike buzzes and psychedelic outputs. On the other side, such sort of music can be considered a modern form of nowadays New Age music. This 5-set album was issued in 2005 and obviously forecasted the coming of such band as Oneohtrix Point Never, for instance. In a nutshell, you have a chance to enjoy this excellent experimental album which unfortunately would not have got enough feedback from contemporary indie peers.               

Shalma – Second Blur (2005)

MinusN

/IDM, Organic electronica, Experimental electronica, Minimal techno/

Comment: although this4-track issue was produced approximately 10 years ago it is still relevant and contemporary regarding such styles as IDM and intellectual techno music. Shalma`s outlet involves gritty layering filled with microscopic bits and hypnotic (semi) rhythms. Indeed, all these layers are masterfully melted into each other. The artist does add craftily organic sounds, oneiric noises and appropriate samples into the blend thereby giving it a natural feeling. In a nutshell, give it a try because it should have been a classic one.   

Coeval – Distante (2005)

MinusN

Bandcamp

/Ambient drone, Soundscape, Avant-garde, Dystopbient, Organic electronica, Dark ambient, Improvised music, Musique concrète, Experimental electronica, Noise, Experimentalism, Illbient, Abstract, Glitchtronica/

Comment: this 6-track issue was initially just one long-running track performed at Sonar in Barcelona, Catalonia in 2005. The result is outstanding due to abstract droning, thought-provoking sonic phasing, exploitation of different materials and field recordings to create genuine sonic patterns and innovative sonorous landscapes. Some sounds on it chime like deeply buried ones coming forth from underground mazes and ornamented with glitch-y noises, signal-alike sonic pulsations, and overwhelming vibrating effects. Emotionally Juan Carlos Blancas` compositions used to sway between abstract and evil-sounding, however, giving no fuck to the listener. Is it a soundtrack for the abandoned wastelands and landscapes? All in all, it is a great shit for your pleasure.