Oshi Kito – EP 2 (2010)

Fusion

• Dubstep 
• Alternative 
• Electronic music 
• Breaks 
• Dub 
• Drum and bass 
• Leftfield 
• Breakbeat 
• Art music 
• Breakcore

Comment: Oshi Kito is a musician of Japanese heritage though he is not making music with the influences of J-pop, anime or Japanoise, at least on this 4-track issue which gets clocked in at a 17-minute. I guess the aforementioned styles are the most represented ones from the arrogant westerner`s view though depending on a viewer`s personal preferences undoubtedly. Oshi Kito`s music is inflected by dub, and exquisite broken rhythms which used to wobble and change its pace due those bold synthesised frequencies and rattling drums invoking the sense of drum and bass, and breakbeat (especially at Fauld). At Fauld those synthesizers used to chime like being conjured up by ghastly cats of whom you have no wish to meet otherwise altogether. Indeed, the more you listen to it the more one`s understanding and categorization of the issue is getting blurred, especially if you do listen to such tracks as Kuishi Katika. and Drop Moon. The former of them chimes like an art house journey where the metallic beats used to twist and swing thereof somehow reminiscent of such artists as Cagey House, and Oneothrix Point Never`s R Plus Seven (2013). The latter one exploits uncanny high tones which used to sound like being produced on a keytar atop downright rough bass sequences to create a new intriguing universe. The marvellous issue is a part of the discography of Fusion Netlabel. 

Worthy Eardrum Party – Lost Property (2010)

Vulpiano

Vulpiano

• Alternative rock 
• Indie rock 
• Folk indie 
• Psychedelic rock 
• Noise pop 
• Indie folk 
• Blues rock 
• Shoegaze

Comment: all these 11 songs are composed by Angus Rudd, and it is done adeptly and refreshingly for sure. However, this my understanding after listening to a couple of first songs. Even if it might be he did not succeed in vamping up the rock and roll tradition he did follow his own heart and soul to make up a good song-writing at his most earnestness. Moreover, it is an interesting creation through folk-littered guitar music which is spruced up with reverse effects, and psychedelic twists and feedback noises here and there. If one thinks of it as a retrospective one it is much more than just a bare copy of the rock and roll legacy. Angus Rudd is a contemporary man with the influences and visions and that is what makes possible to bridge different eras with one another. You could not find a chink in his armour. If you are listening to his more blaring, cellophane-alike compositions you could hear how it used to decompose and then elevate through the abrasion between those layers. At Watching the Spiral the listener can enjoy the electrification of blues rock which step by step is progressing into a psychedelic exaltation. It is not a case where you could see clinging to sidelong styles and charmless emulation. The self-ironic I Just Can't Write is a churning row of noisy bars and meshes within the auteur is immersed in the idea of a lopsided psychedelic shoegaze progression where beauty and pain are the different sides of the same coin. It is warranted by the churning power and in fact that is enough to get the indulgence for the track. Eventually I have to confess it is an outstanding issue and while would having had a proper place and time it could have had a ground-breaking influence. Listen to it and you will get understand the ennobling point of it. The gem is a part of the discography of Vulpiano Records.

Polygon – Dreamfishing (2010)

Zardonic

• Drum and bass 
• Psychedelic 
• Jungle 
• Breakcore 
• Ambient trance 
• Electronic music 
• Breakbeat 
• Ambient dub

Comment: behind these 16 compositions is Glen Burrows who is being known due to his dubstep explorations under the pseudonym Gravity and before that under the pen name Polygon, the recent issue is more about. Glen Burrows exploits disparate measures and patterns to shed light on some rhythmic combinations in contemporary club dance-related and chilled-out electronic music. It is fairly sympathetic to get part of his sultry aesthetic where he goes beyond bare formalism by saturating it with glitch-coated bits, microscopic noises and unstable, tectonic rhythmic patterns. Indeed, mostly those sulphurous and frantic jungle and drum and bass rattles lose the ground in front of their foots being immersed in a heady panning thereby resulting in a psychedelic outfit. For me it somewhat reminds of a period from the year of 1998 when I bought a tape copy of The Orb`s Oblivion (1997, Island), and that was a very frequent listening object then. Indeed, at times Glen Burrows likes to add a restrained and spacey and vocal sample-based relish to the mixture while containing the previous intensity and profundity in cadence and propulsion. At times being overloaded by those meaningful swaths of psychedelic impulses running on invisible border of your mind and body you can perceive like dwelling in a collapsing house. You will get lost completely and thereafter you feel yourself unwounded in the face of daily trash around your mind and soul. And you cannot be wrong as a mob of 21,466 music lovers who have downloaded it at Archive.org (under the leadership of Zardonic Recordings).

Dead Black Arms – Slow Burning Ocean (2010)

Drowning

• Drone doom metal 
• Doom metal 
• Post-metal 
• Experimental metal 
• Minimalism 
• Avant-metal

Comment: this issue consists of one, long-running composition, which slightly embarks on from nothing, then stepwise evolves being cranked up in volume and added up with slamming drumming and distorted, warped hi-hats. Indeed, the result is craftily composed therefore it might be considered a mystified issue. However, it is feint. With regard to the title of the track it reminds me of horrendous sea catastrophes being caused by the human race and oil tankers. For example, the one what happened in the Gulf of Mexico 6 years ago. Because of this it is not fun at all. Fuck off, those droning doom chords resemble hundreds of thousands dying sea birds and fishes and mammals who are killed by the human being's brain as allegedly the most sophisticated object all around the Universe. The bad thing is this is just a little part of all the atrocities perpetrated by us against nature. No respect, no humbleness, just arrogance and exaggerated self-confidence mixed up with stupidity. It is both against the own species and other species as well. Just watch daily TV events to get proof against. All is being set up in flames directly and indirectly. There is no future. The only positive thing in relation to the human race is to create art in different appearances, which provides hope and some salvation. These 32 minutes created by Danish Claus Haxholm over there are thought for it. This is a great issue under the experimental metal imprint Drowning. 

JCAB - Underground EP (2010)

Alma-Electronica

• Minimal techno 
• Experimental techno 
• Remixes 
• Avant-techno

Comment: minimally layered techno…minimal aspects of rhythms are solidly magnified…minimally laid down echoes and whiffs of industrial kind of music are represented nearby crunchy rhythms…bass frequencies of rhythms are variegated to make up a highly enjoyable assortment. All these excerpts reflect upon underground-like techno music, which is obsessive in its iterativeness and principal in uncompromisingness. There is the original track and a couple of remixes of it. Because of that the whole chimes like a signifier of infiniteness. Breaks. Great. Find it out. This is a shaker of cerebral life. Almost invisibly. Sorry – almost inaudibly.                

Egal 3 – Ruzzi EP (2010)

Ruzzinet

• House 
• Tech-house 
• Dub house 
• Remixes 
• Club dance

Comment: In general, the formula of house music is quite understandable. Catchy, endlessly repeated rhythms (at least it seems to sound that way!) will slightly be changed throughout the course. Secondly, the style provides a game between the obvious and the remote (or the hidden). More concretely, I mean how those sleek, fragile cadences are related to indirect sonic aspects, which come through the sonic filters to us. Coming from a distance to nearby us. It does mean house music shifts one’s perception about room with you and around you. For instance, by listening to this 3-notch outing one could hear intriguing melodica samples and loops to be developing in one (mainly in the right channel). Furthermore, those vocal samples startle you because of chiming as if coming out from a nearby apartment. So be warned – before you start to listen to it you should be convinced about good relationships between you and the neighbours. Indeed, it is all about house music even if there are up hints at dub. It is a house carnival in the first place. Please take steps to be a part of it. The issue is a part of the Italian imprint Ruzzinet.         

Goodmorning Breakfast – Hello Monday (2010)

StoneAge

• Psychedelic rock 
• Jangle pop 
• Alternative dance 
• Britpop 
• Northern soul 
• Baggy 
• Indie dance

Comment: Goodmorning Breakfast is a project from West Java, Indonesia being influenced by such acts like Oasis, and Suede by their own words. However, by listening to their 3-track issue it chirps even more interesting and reminding more of an epoch in the end of the 80s and in the beginning of the 90s where indie music did have many appearing forms while searching for more reliable manifestations. More profoundly, Goodmorning Breakfast`s Hello Monday chimes like a jangle act being organically imbued with psychedelic pop, northern soul and baggy/indie dance influences (in general, by post-punk influences). It reminds of an era after the C86 compilation when many light-hearted jangle acts changed into more dance-appealed and artsy ones (for instance, Soup Dragons, The Pastels, McCarthy). However, despite these parallels the artist is not a simulacrum to rehash the glorious past, it is worthy on its own. The issue is a part of StoneAge Records.              

The Day Of Extinction – Mutually Assured Destruction (2010)

Torn Flesh

• Black metal
• Symphonic black metal
• Trash metal
• Funeral metal

Comment: First of all, by seeing the title of this 3-track issue the first thought of mine was it was either a case of blackened metal or goregrind because having hints at misanthropy and destruction. Indeed, the opening track Black Sunrise in the mp3 player of mine is based on the fast churning of instruments supported by massive symphonic synthesisers and hissing feedback. The base used to be appealingly iterative just providing one loop from start to finish. It could be said it transcends its stylistic borders in an elegant way. The following track is In Loving Memory... where the tempo is decelerated and accelerated in different layers at the same time. Furthermore, later on, the composition will be adorned with bold yet slowed-down piano chords and an exquisite orchestrated whiff. The final piece is the self-titled one similarly to the first track being fast running yet demonstrating some tones lowered downward and on the other side there are up massively bumpy riffs and ridges thereby coming into trash metal altogether. In a word, it is a fabulous issue by any metal and conceptual standards.

The Shining Men – Interlude Music EP (2010)

17Sons

Jamendo

Bandcamp

• Techno
• Lo-fi
• Electro
• Tech-house

Comment: Undoubtedly it is a challenging outing because of representing some styles with unconventional sonorous appearances and corroded sonic frequencies. More profoundly, electro, techno and tech-house vibes have been emerged by exploiting low-end bits and rough, bumpy rhythmic patterns. It is fairly impressive to hear obsessive mood in some tracks  (Girl Passion, for instance). At times the artist follows cues of the minimalism though doing it in a small scale (Goodbye Birds). Despite its unconventional appearance the result used to be on the top by its quality. 

Nikomunekant – Vibration T (2010)

Aventuèl

Archive.org

• Ambient
• Musique concrète
• Crossover
• New Age
• Electronic music
• Soundtrack
• Ambient pop
• Smooth jazz
•  Mood music

Comment: these 40 minutes will crank the emotions in the listeners significantly because I guess there would be noiseful one among us to refuse to come along that pathway and experience different vibes after a bunch of dodges are emerged to introduce different yet related narratives within the course. At times it is the sort of ambient music with poppy smooth jazz progressions and New Age tinged motives, at times shedding light more upon Kosmische Musik with more profound and soaring threads. At times there are represented endeavours toward such sort of ambient and pop mixed music where gentle guitar chords are accompanied by even more gentle synthetic whiffs and elemental sounds borrowed from the natural sources. At times those synthesizer induced layers and droning mist have been managed in the way to put in more watery and mirky sonic components to the mix. The greatest success of the issue is related to the organic balance between moody and technical counterparts as if you could be a part of this terrific terrain. That`s all, it is ok. It is very ok. The issue is a part of an imprint, Aventuèl. 

Hello Soviet – Hello Soviet EP (2010)

Quantum Bit

• Electronic music
• Experimental pop
• Leftfield
• Robot pop
• Electro pop
• Alternative

Comment: I would welcome this 8-track issue but it is not understandable at all what does it mean the word Soviet in the recent context. If it is to be thought a former country called The Soviet Union and glorified it – fuck you, honestly. You don´t know what you are talking about you have not dwelled within the borders of this monster. This was a cruel, poor, trifling, anti-nostalgic time span in my life though I had experienced it consciously for five years only. What I could remember for this country of Red Plague that it was stolen by all because all were the poor ones and things were very limited and it was even morally justified to steal it (especially members of those nations who were occupied after WWII). Of course, there were some people who lived well, for instance, top members of the Communist Party who lived like the Olympic gods. Although a comrade called Vladimir Putin said the collapse of the Soviet Union was the biggest geopolitical catastrophe during the 20th century but by my opinion I really hope it was something which will not happen never again by a stupid animal called the human being. But I am sure of 100 per cent it will happen and happens at the moment as well (in North Korea in the most perverted way). Of course, there has always been a shitloads of left-wing activists who have justified it while having no real life experience with it. However, Jossif Stalin the most even comrade among the even ones called them as useful idiots. Because of that I really hope the word was thought otherwise and ironically. Music is a half-dadaist collage of exaggerated sounds with inappropriate relations between different genres and currents. Undoubtedly it is electronic and acid fuelled where the synthesizers are wound up to generate sounds somewhere in the periphery between acceptable and deviated. Noise is aesthetically illegal, isn`t? At times the listener can enjoy the whiffs of psyched free jazz and kinky electronic modulations and theme transitions. Robotomy is a contemporary counterpoint to Kraftwerk`s classics. Otherwise the rest rings out like a "normal" issue. Get it and enjoy it.

Sounds and images from Spain (2010)

Top-40

• Musique concrète
• Field recordings
• Found sounds
• Conceptual
• Non-music
• Sound collage

Comment: this is a subsequent virtual journey around the world regarding the imprint top-40`s audio-visual teleportative series Sounds and images from… . The recent issue of three parts is based on the recordings from Malaga, Dilar, San Jose, Tenerife, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura. The field recordings are recorded by Vadim Ugryumov. In general, the issue does not surprise because the sounds represented over there do coincide virtually with other ones based on the same concept of necessity. For instance, there are up the snippets of street sounds (the sounds of bypassing motorcycles, for instance), the chirping of cicadas, speech snippets. In a word, the mechanical sounds are either set against or interwoven with the organic, natural ones. However, the most striking characteristic are recordings of the covers of some rock and roll classics. In a nutshell, given that it embraces a bunch of different, intriguing sounds the result is captivating.

Crew54 & CientifiQ - Slap Rapz (2010)

Bandcamp

• Hip-hop
• Soul-hop
• Rap
• Urban music

Comment: Crew54 is a Texas-based duo consisting of G-christ, and M.O.S who at this time are supported by CientifiQ. The 10-track issue is an impeccable amalgamation of soulful and cinematic samples and an incessant torrent of rhymes and bouncy rhythms. The issue consists of the seamlessly bound details where any element does have a role to fulfil. By the way, they hint at the racial segregation which still exists in the US society in spite of being depicted as a relict problem in some propagandist Hollywood and TV series. Indeed, I push for to read the sociology based studies, for instance Gale Encyclopedia Of Sociology rather than just watching those truth warping motion pictures alone. On the other side, I might be wrong because of having no grasp to understand that there are up possible sketches of ideal world in the future to be depicted. However, For The People ft. CientifiQ, and We Make It Hard are such marvellous tracks over the place where everything is floating cinematically at the highest extent. This is a perfect, ideal sound. Furthermore, there are no slack pieces up at all. Life could be peachy and rewarding thanks to mind-blowing music. 

Ryan Cohen - Under the Lilac Sky (2010)

Totokoko

Bandcamp

• Ambient pop
• Indie folk
• Modern classical
• Epic
• Post-pop
• Folk indie
• Art pop

Comment: the Japanese imprint Totokoko is a platform for sharing music which could mainly be categorized as “indietronica”, “folktronica”, “toytronica”, “modern classical”. The latter one of the styles is the pre-dominating part of Ryan Cohen`s issue Under the Lilac Sky. Indeed, those 9 compositions are intimate insights based on appealing piano chords and minor yet attention-getting sonic effects around it. At times the elements are more ambient soaked, at times more silence attracted, at times just passing by to visualize their paths in an effortless way. However, the last couple of pieces (I Want You to Know I'm Around, Now I Know For Sure (live ver) ) are the lyric-centred indie folk ones. The favourite of mine is Transmission which is an ambient pop terrain with lofty orchestrations to flit in around now and then. Another favourite of mine is Wintersleep to depict a picturesque landscape while the snow is falling and the faeries are dancing over there. All in all, the result is a solid, fulfilled one with visceral hold.  

Thee Outside – Deaf Disco (1997/2010)

Year Zero

• Drum and bass
• Jungle
• Experimental
• Alternative dance
• Breaks

Comment: this issue of 12 tracks was initially released in 1997 whereas the British music scene was virtually shook by a wave of Britpop which started off sometime in the mid of the 90s and on the other side there was up the club dance scene of drum and bass, jungle, speed garage and house music of becoming more apparent on the mainstream ground. Indeed, these styles of dance music come to provide something refreshing for more demanding music lovers. On the other side, some of those artists whose music had had a remarkable influence on the aforementioned styles decided to stand off or set their steps otherwise to continue stubbornly their very own idiosyncratic path. Such true pioneers as Aphex Twin, Mike Paradinas-led projects, Dryft, Luke Vibert, Venetian Snares, Squarepusher would go underground again. Thee Outside`s music in connection with artistic and aesthetic approach did have a similar, wide-ranging behaviour with regard to going beyond the boundaries of dnb/jungle music in a curious yet sapid way. Musically the artist used to loan from other adjacent styles yet exploiting deviant sonic effects in a great amount to the compound which appeared to be relatively uncommon then. All those details are accentuated and amplified in a truly poignant way. Although the nature of Deaf Disco is exquisitely experimental it might be as one of the most accessible notches in the discography of Year Zero. Let`s enjoy the dexterity of British people to generate poppy sounds for our pleasure. You should take time to concentrate and behave in the way it is repeated in a rhyme at Empty Mind - /empty your mind of all thoughts and distractions/you`ll lose yourself to become the music/. 

Pink Priest – beko_31 (2010)

Beko DSL

Bandcamp

• Dreamwave
• Leftfield
• Avant-garde
• Drone
• Ambient
• Hypnagogic pop
• Glo-fi
• Micronoise
• Chillwave

Comment: recently my mind and soul was psyched by an Estonian indie show, Nestor & Morna at Raadio 2 where Siim Nestor played a song by The Dreams, the French duo who has appeared for many times in the discography of an imprint called Beko DSL. Indeed, I got reason to go back in time while I had listened to the label`s music for much more than I used to do recently. In any cases, one should do it again and again. There were up many groups and one-man projects in the label`s list who gained in popularity later. For instance, Death And Vanilla, Memoryhouse, Cankun, Dirty Beaches, Raw Thrills. On the other side, at the end of the 00s and in the beginning of the 10s there were up many styles which become to appear to influence indie scenes worldwide and even mainstream music worldwide. More profoundly, I do consider such styles as chillwave/hypnagogic pop and witch house/drag house in the first place. Indeed, myspace as a music platform to rev up the artists to gain fame has eventually resulted successfully for The Arctic Monkeys only. A new generation of artists then believed more in music blogs, small record labels (Woodsist, Not Not Fun, Patient Sounds, CLLCT, Beko DSL, Rack And Ruin) and music distribution by their own. The Bandcamp would appear soon. The US-musician Cody Watson aka Pink Priest is one of such sort of artists whose music used to drift between and across the aforementioned styles. The first platform of him is certainly the sort of music recorded in home and probably in his bedroom, and on the other side his outright dreamed-out and slowed down music used to refer toward escaped moods where dreams are built up to be bigger than life. In fact, it is to be much bigger than your fucking, ordinary life. It is quite puzzling to imagine where would be the home place of his music, where would it be to settle down. Obviously it is not a cosy place because those warped vocals, gentle waves of droning and slightly solemn yet somehow ill-omened sonic threads give no support for any pop-oriented point. You are left alone altogether and while listening to it for more and more you are not going to long for it. Instead of it, Sleepyhead, and Get Haunted will grow faster on you than you would have expected it. It is for the fans of Sun Araw, Lee Noble, Ducktails, M Geddes Gengras. Of course, get other issues of Cody watson via Bandcamp for yourself. 

The Strange Story of Joseph Schenck - S/​T (2010)

Inglorious Ocean

• Post-rock
• Indietronica
• Alternative
• Cowbell indie
• Ambient
• Electronic music
• Experimental rock
• Mood music
• Art rock

Comment: the last issue of an imprint called Inglorious Ocean which got letter space at Recent Music Heroes was Sub Noir`s Reflex, an issue of made up of influences of IDM, indie electronica, and concrete sounds. This issue seems to be quite similar in some respect though providing more post-rock allusions to the 4-track blend. However, it does not mean it is a somehow guitar dominated, crescendo directed experiment. Instead of it one is drawn into a Tortoise/Mice Parade/The Dylan Group-influenced terrain of minimalism, progressive rock, art music, electronic music, and indie rock/indietronica. The Bruxelles, Belgium based artist`s music used to relentlessly drift within those styles and boundaries as if being hurried up to create possibly many combinations and textures altogether in a certain amount of time. In spite of it the issue`s course used to meander in a slow and tranquilized mode which are at times accentuated with syllables and words and concrete sounds . Guitars are deftly combined with electronica or used to run alone previously being prepared or processed. With regard to the cover print it could be admitted the greyish tone is predominating over there. In a nutshell, I recommend to listen to other issues under Inglorious Ocean additionally because I have found no issues so far being somehow disappointed to my mind. Manual dexterity meets beauty meets calmness.

Sub Noir – Reflex (2010)

Inglorious Ocean

• Experimental electronica
• Indietronica
• Ambient pop
• Electronic pop
• Dream pop
• IDM
• Organic electronica

Comment: Inglorious Ocean is a Rome, Italy-based imprint whose purpose is to promote post-rock, electronica and IDM infused music for your pleasure. For instance, Sub Noir`s Reflex proves that electronic music on its own could be fairly melodic, pensive and sonically multifarious. The point of the issue is also about to craftily balance different sonic bits to each other, to be floating and emotionally compelling in nature at the same time. This handful of tracks is a good source to find out many outstanding compositions. For instance, Fireworks has been managed to explore concrete music with elegantly sprawling rhythms and slowly evolving synths atop and in the middle of. Garden chimes as if the still life on Sunday had been recorded back of the house in the countryside somewhere. Puddle is a lullaby for the advanced ones. Indeed, Sub Noir`s tracks here are highly spirited as if having no imposed borders and calculated intentions. Top notch. 

Takeshi Kagamifuchi – Kvant (2010)

Mediafire

• Glitch techno
• Avant-techno
• Tech-house
• Experimental electronica
• Abstract techno
• Industrial techno
• IDM
• Minimal techno
• Experimental techno

Comment: the Japanese musician Takeshi Kagamifuchi`s 5-track issue might have different aspects with regard to experimental electronic and techno music. First of all, it seems he created the outing by exploiting debris-alike bits and sounds like hisses, microscopic noises, static, crackles, signals, glitches. These sounds would be very dead by standing alone and without giving it revivified boost or organizing it in a certain, expressive direction. In general, Kagamifuchi`s sound could be called techno though it does lack the common very nature with style called techno. The Japanese musician`s accent is not related to dance-appealed vibes but rather exploring the inner life of the aforementioned elements which seems to live their life on their own. Secondly, the album could be understood as a platform for exploring relations between the aforementioned sonic details and natures of different kind. Furthermore, the soundscape which might seem starkly austere at first glance could be remarkably more high-spirited and alive then superficial mainstream pop act of being deflated from essential ideas. Thirdly, one could grasp there is subtle border if at all between the so-called established sounds and “errors” (I mean crazed sounds). The only exception is a track called Uni which reveals its affinity toward house ideas though this should be grasped in an abstract, indirect way. In a word, the result is an outstanding insight into techno music. Unfortunately the album which was issued under Hz-Records does not exist anymore so I decided to upload it again. Indeed, it is a rare issue.  

Mr Zu - Lunar Trip EP (2010)

Load And Clear

• Progressive trance
• Deep techno
• Remix
• Dub techno
• Trance dub

Comment: the opening track Floating Away does reveal the artist`s intention to search for balance of drifting between soothing dub vibes and trance music inflected synthesised frequencies. The same tendency will continue at Into The Darkness. However, Expedition is a composition of different sort which used to trudge through deeply designed vapour and hypnotic techno rhythms pushing the whole forward in an effortless way. Slownoise`s remix of the track adds more dub stylized echoes and delays to the mix and a more hyper-realist and clear-cut horizon surfaces to the ground. In a nutshell, the title justifies the album`s content. Indeed, it is an astonishing listening session. The issue is a part of the discography of Loud And Clear.