The Taxpayers - The Exhilarating News (2007)

CLLCT

Bandcamp

9.2

/Indie punk, Art punk, Post-punk, Alternative rock, DIY/

Comment: The Exhilarating News was the debut album by the Taxpayers, an Portland-based punk rock combo. They are self-confident, arrogant and impressive from the start to the end. These 13 pieces used to extend from desperate (post-)punk energy and galloping alternative rock to delta blues, country, folk and even ballad-esque soft moments.Indeed, if you are intended to find out a good punk band then The Taxpayers is thought for your pleasure.

Luno - Disbelief (2011)

CLLCT

9.5

/Dream folk, Experimental folk, Dark folk, Singer-songwriter, Alternative, Noir folk/

Comment: I truly adore this set of 3 tracks which contains 2 versions of the eponymous track, and Three Breaths To A Swing in addition to it. However, it stylistically takes on dream folk and neofolk blended outlets based on dreamy synth reveries, anguished vocal delivery and strumming acoustic guitar magic. Because of being the first in a series of singles from Luno`s forthcoming record Precipice I recommend to listen to the album (released in 2012) as well.

Doll - Lusio Nova (2008/2010)

CLLCT

9.0

/Alt-folk, DIY, Anti-folk, Dream folk, Singer-songwriter, New Weird America, Covers, Indie folk, Folk indie/

Comment: Shannon Doll is a singer-songwriter who is being a part of Bloomington, the Indiana-based collective CLLCT which can be considered one of the most important DIY-related platforms worldwide. Doll provides a set of 9 songs which is filled in with pronounced intimacy, exhausting dreaminess and contemplative melancholy, though, she is apparently aware of the sequences of varying chords and tempo. Indeed, sometimes she used to infiltrate strummed string magic into an embodiment composed of fingerpicked chords. By the way, three compositions of the whole are nice cover versions (Bob Dylan`s Blowin`In The Wind, Tom Petty`s Wildflowers, and Paul Simon`s Duncan). Love it.

A Bee Hive - Untitled (2009)

CLLCT

9.3

/Alt-folk, DIY, Improvised music, Dream folk, Folk indie, Experimental rock, Indie folk, Post-rock, Fusion, Crossover/ 
 
Comment: there are presented 4 pieces by Matthew David Rowan which used to be the improvised instrumental ones, however, where silentful drifts are variegated with exciting turns and flamboyant outbursts. More surprisingly, now and then (the second part) it chimes like a sort of fusion sound made up of the indie folkies` gliding explorations, jazz rock-esque mellow vibes and even post-rock-alike omnipotent sonic grandeur. In a word, MDR`s soundscape flourishes because it used to be lush at any moment throughout the course. Well done by any means. Love it.

Pretty Ugly - Wine Cellar Elephants (2011)

CLLCT

9.2

/Experimental electronica, Indietronica, Experimental indie, Alternative, Leftfield/

Comment: Pretty Ugly is a project from Calgary, Alberta, Canada who offers up a pair of tracks. The self-titled opening is to have showed up clumsy beats tightly enlaced with the undercurrents (or is it above it?) of skipping electronica. The darling of mine is another notch, called Enrutcon, which observes a type of dashing indie music through broken electro glasses. The extraordinary element from within it are undulating radiowaves fluttering incessantly back and forth. Suggestive and eminent undoubtedly.

Assault Squad Safety Scissors - Tapes Have A Way of Holding Things Together (2008)

CLLCT
Lastfm

9.0

/Indie, Singer-songwriter, Indie folk, Folk indie, Lo-fi/

Comment: Andre Allingham, a resident from Fredericksburg, Virginia, is the person behind this funny entitled project. The 8-piece album is a part of the glorious CLLCT scene, though, initially released on Best Kept Secret Tapes, a small indie label. These tracks take on lush guitar twangs, dreamy vocal manner. However, ultimately you can admit it is a decent indie release due to its flourishing turns and warm progressions. By the way, Allingham`s aesthetics is approved by Jarvis Cocker. Jarvis cannot be wrong!

Anika`s Basement Show - My Tambourine Hands Are On Fire (2011)

CLLCT

8.8

/Singer-songwriter, Americana, Alt-folk, Indie folk, Lo-fi, DIY, Folk indie/

Comment: here are uploaded 10 minutes spreaded out over a pair of introspections of a type of intimate, circumspect ones by a singer-songwriter with the assistance of facilities such as a guitar/strings, lone harmonica, suggestive vocal manner, and much ambiance surrounding all of that. By the way, it is entitled as late night lo-fi and comes out of the bottomless realm of Bloomington-based CLLCT.

Birch Mouth - High Saturation EP (2010)

CLLCT

8.2

/Art pop, Experimental indie, Primitive pop, Drone pop, Alternative, Lo-fi, DIY/

Comment: at the first sight is seems to be an ambiguous release. Yet, after a couple of listening it either opens up its virtues or you warm up. Sometimes it chimes like a little brother of Beirut, and Bark Cat Bark, at times it used to back away from the approach of the aforementioned juggernauts due to its clumsy, tenuously programmed keyboards and other things. Generally it is a saturated issue, first of all at those places which do showcase more the witty use of lofty harmonies and joyous melodies ( for instance, Carousel; Spooky Clown Lullabye; Gold).

Weird Ribs - 803 Days (2011)

CLLCT
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.2

/Ambient, Kosmische Musik, Space pop, Psychedelic, Synthwave, Electronic pop, Krautrock/

Comment: if to describe such kind of music you don`t need many words at all. Highly oscillating synths used to push forward into the format of Kosmische Musik as if setting out its own narrative about the creation of the Outer Space. On the other way, just listening to it seems to be a much more democratic activity because of getting a chance to perceive more colours, accents, modalities, and variegated tones below, above and around it. In a nutshell, a handful of notches represented here do provide a savory listening. Indeed, Joseph Cox made it out again.

Weird Ribs - Tubes (2010)

CLLCT
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.5

/Krautrock, Experimental rock, Psychedelic electronica, Ambient rock, Epic, Avant-rock, Electronic pop, Cosmic fusion, Drone, Kosmische Musik, Space synth/

Comment: not only Bradford Cox can forge excellent music. Here is 22-year-old Englishman Joseph Cox who is as similarly as his well-known namesake influenced by electronic, ambient and psychedelic sound. However, a native from Newcastle was previously known thanks to his obscure ambient project Fragile Battleship. Anyway, Cox takes out some elements from there and fuses them with the oscillating vibes of Kosmische Musik and krautrock, following at times slightly more pop-oriented (Tangerine Dream; Harmonia; Cluster), at times more profound, orthodox alchemy (a la Conrad Schnitzler). On the other side, if to compare it with contemporary kindred souls you can direct spot upon Growing, Emeralds, Fuck Buttons, Oneohtrix Point Never and many othe rones. In a nutshell, this 9-track issue is truly epic and huge.

Our Bad: A Michael Jackson Tribute Compilation (2009)

CLLCT

8.4

/Covers, Conceptual, Singer-songwriter, Alternative pop, Alt-folk, Electronic/

Comment: all this caboodle what was going around the death of Michael Jackson recently was far away from being normal and forced to avoid reading the media. This 13-track miscellany was compiled during the legend`s lifetime. I`ll Be There, Billie Jean, We Are The World and other classic ones are covered here by iron like nylon, Patrick Ripoll, tinyfolk, shelby sifers, James Eric (and his side project garden on a trampoline) and other CLLCT-related eminent musicians.

The Falling Floors - The Falling Floors (2008)

Daydream Generation/Quixodelic
CLLCT

8.8

/Psychedelia, Psychedelic folk, Folk rock, Indie folk, Folk indie/

Comment: The Falling Floors comes out from the Daydream Generation/Quixodelic Records block. Similarly to the Bloomington-based CLLCT, and the Exeter-based Children Of The Drone-related groups this foundation embodies the most free-spirited moments in pop music. However, Falling Floors plays nice psychedelia-infused pop folk where are presented sublime motives and harmonies, at times it takes on oriental (including drone folk instruments), at times conjuring 60`s hippie stuff. The last track rings out like a tribute to Procol Harum.

Sir Deja Doog - An Impossible Darkness (2010)

CLLCT

8.7

/Alt-folk, Anti-folk, Singer-songwriter/

Comment: Eric Alexander is one of those stalwarts along with Tinyfolk, James Eric, The Sarcastic Dharma Society, Adrian Aardvark (if to name just some ones) coming out from the Bloomington-based CLLCT collective. Sir Deja Doog is the nom de plume for his side project, however, demonstrating himself as a crafty solo musician. Highly loaded, strumming guitar gears are variegated with profound, contemplative songwriting exploiting just guitar and diverse approaches for singing and delivering his message. The lyrics of the 6-track EP are sometimes descriptive (regarding his loon state of mind), at times plaintive, or straightforwardly striking in its bareness, respectively. He has described the album in the following way - I believed I died and went to Hell. I ended up in the hospital in a catatonic state. This is what I saw.

girlhood - girlhood (2010)

CLLCT
Bandcamp

9.4

/Tracker music, Electro pop, Chiptune, Post-dance, Weird, Psychedelic dance, Shoegaze, DIY, Crossover, Glo-fi, Alternative dance, Bedroom pop, Experimental pop/

Comment: this 8-pieced album represents the best qualitative and even most unexpected sides of the music popping out from the CLLCT collective. Stylistically it comes forth as the kind of patchwork revealing a penchant for gentle, blissed-out electronica, jagged 8-bit/tracker rhythms, blindfold yet exalting electro pop (which does have acquired the best subleties of the contemporary disco music), and trash-coated shoegaze contemplation. All those kinds of styles and sounds and melody/and harmony hooks are masterfully balanced and collected to here what everybody needs apparently for to be in an ecstatic sense of innocent joy. Indeed, it is almost perfect in its imperfection.

Cameron Schwartz - A Boy and His Horse Soundtrack (2009)

CLLCT

8.5

/Art pop, Film music, Experimental, Conceptual, Alternative, DIY/

Comment: CLLCT is obviously the biggest DIY/lo-fi/folk-based site worldwide containing more than 1500 artists and 2800 albums and 2.8 million visit times at the moment (in fact, the amount of it is increasing with every day). Cameron Schwartz (also known as part of the psych-folk collective Cameron and the Friendly Ship) composed this 12-track album for a farcical episode running on the Internet. Hushingly chiming guitar chords and clear-cut arpeggios drifting along are once variegated with one more synthetic template (Escape From the Police) and music for the prepared guitar (Rescuing Horse). While all tracks are short-running (approximately about 1 minute), they are craftily created thereby having enough of inner and formal strength simultaneously.

Fig Mints (of Your Imagination) - We Love You EP (2010)

CLLCT
The Fig Mints
Quixodelic

8.8

/Singer-songwriter, Anti-folk, DIY, Art-rock, Noise rock, Post-punk, Alternative rock, Experimental indie/

Comment: Here are represented 4 tracks which used to sway between tough and mellow, between dynamics and introspectiveness. It does start out with heavily stomping-abrasive post-punk-ish drums and feedback-based chaos reminiscent of JAMC and Primal Scream and Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Later it gets slowed down thereby getting closer to mellow and catchy indie pop tunes which are embellished with glockenspiel-relied snippets. This issue is an example of how the kind of great music can be created with a sparse array of elements.

Native Bells - Lost in the Sky (2011)

CLLCT
Bandcamp
Mediafire

9.2

/Avant-garde, Doo wop, No Wave, Psychedelia, New Weird America, Acousmatic, Sampledelic, Cut and paste, Experimentalism, Sound collage, Avant-electronica/

Comment: Native Bells (by listening to it, however, I have a permanent temptation to name it as Native Belle) is a New York-based project having played out one of the most refreshing albums of the year 2011 to date. They have managed to specialize in concept records and extended plays making out Faust-esque rhythm structures, Free Design-hued doo wop and a capella choppiness, careless jazz overthrows, carnival whirls and curves, cock-eyed pace outbursts, vanguard electronica/experiments with sine waves, lush ethno/sampledelica notches, in a nutshell juxtaposing all the stuff off somewhere against Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance and krautrock and plunderphonics and BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the No Wave tradition. People let`s dance.

Cootie Shot - OO.. (Circle Circle Dot Dot) EP (2009)

CLLCT

9.0

/Alt-folk, DIY, Lo-fi, Americana/

This is a fine ukulele-based strumming pop from Gainesville accomplished by baby glockenspiel touch. Kia and Spence. All the stuff is minimally but in an astonishing way designed into irresistible dynamics where lush, deep-timbred female singing is dominating or at times unisoned with man`s voice. The lyrics goes about love, fairy tales, and bluetooth headsets.

[Artists] Four Visions

CLLCT
Four Visions/Bandcamp
Myspace
Lastfm

[Old but important] e.p hall the edge the middle (CLLCT)

e.p hall has been one of the queens on the Bloomington-based CLLCT alongside with iron like nylon (Meghan Lamb) and Shelby Sifers. By avoiding to be a target by possible feminist attacks, however, I don`t feel myself internally hindered for to get name her as one the excellencers on the New Weird America scene as well. Moreover, she has been active since the first half of 00`s (the first demo was recorded in 2003), relatively long before the starting point of CLLCT. Listening to her home recorded 6-track album (2006) again after a while, after being on a year-long interval away from it I shall have to admit her conception works previously very good out. She is a musician who loves driving on acoustic guitars, mingling its mellow chords together with emotive, sometimes dream-alike voice and some synth currents and gurgling electronics. Indeed, at times e.p hall is used to be changed herself into an acutely flaming fur by putting acoustic guitars down or throwing them to the background and letting machine-inflected and electricity-filled sounds overlap and conquer the record`s backbone. For instance, That Letters and Numbers make is an epic maelstrom having lots of turnings up and down, getting quite close to the noise/shoegaze ensembles at times. A classic touch indeed.

Listen to it here