Bosques de mi Mente - 20 de Abril (2012)

Clinical Archives

9.0

/Modern classical, Instrumental, Mood music, Piano/ 

Comment: similarly to his previous albums the Spanish-based musician does experiment with lone piano chords which are amplified and sustained by fine microscopic noises and arpeggio-laden shuffles and gritty concrete sounds. By its moody side the 44-minute composition is immersed with melancholy and cogent longing aspects. 

Radio Royal - RRDL01 (2012)

Clinical Archives

9.6

/Avant-garde, Experimentalism, No Wave, Psycho-acoustic, Improvised music, Noise, Krautrock, Experimental electronica, Sound art, Psychedelia/

Comment: aarrghh, this 7-piece issue is an erratic blend of psychedelic and spaced-out propulsions, chameleonic improvisation sections, psychotic squeezing noise forays, mesmerizing repetition-heavy electronica, however, ideologically resulting from the tradition of early electronic days (regarding the academic or classical music circuits) and the synthesis-induced krautrock alchemy (Conrad Schnitzler, Roedelius-Moebius) and the tradition of NY, California and Chicago-based improvised noise and sound art (Big City Orchestra, Borbetomagus, Tuxedomoon, The Residents). Highly convincing and one of the most impressive albums in the year of 2012 indeed. In a word, it is holy madness.

H Stewart - GenreLess (2012)

  

Clinical Archives

9.4

/Avant-garde, Noise, Minimalism, Experimentalism, Microtonal, Ethereal pop, Ambient, Modern classical/ 

Comment: H Stewart is a musician from Kansas, USA who has issued a few albums under Clinical Archives before it (more concretely, regarding the first 100 albums of the Moscow-based cult label). However, her music can be considered an instance of ethereal pop made up of hovering ambient textures and sensitive vowel effects which by their shapes and timbre may remind of the aesthetics of Laurie Anderson, and Meredith Monk, for instance. On the other side, it is subjected to the concept of the minimalism, this way avoiding to be braw and joyous. There are a pair of astonishing compositions (Mindtown; SongBird) where haunting ambiance is amplified with fragile piano chords Furthermore, her compositions inwardly could even be classified as compulsive or obsessive. Now her soundscape is accentuated with the washes of massive yet lofty noise, or using the looping, glitch-y effects of a sampling unit, now it is more somber and even a little bit ghastly, however, searching for balance and also finding it. In a word, it is a distinctive, very special publication. It is like the touch of a butterfly causing an incessant array of waves thereby ultimately changing the world into a mysterious but better place around itself.

Neurobit - Maison De Verre Sur Le Chantier (2012)

Clinical Archives

9.2

/Experimental electronica, Ambient pop, Electronic pop, Drone pop, Post-psychedelic electronica, Post-pop, Soundscapes/

Comment: this issue by Bas Welling aka Neurobit consists of one lengthy composition only. More concretely, there are up approximately 1200 seconds at which the listener can discern different parts which are brought forth due to incessant progressions. A particular amount of chords are channelized into soothing undulations and reaching the borders of otherworldly beatific spheres. However, these lucid synth undercurrents (actually they are rather overcurrents) and silentfully ticking, vibraphone-near electronica which is set subtly between the lines comes quite close to the aesthetics of early Mice Parade, Tortoise, and The Dylan Group. The finishing part of the track will be evolving step by step into an instance of pronounced drone pop full of poignant shapes and austere yet epic outbursts (comparable with such contemporary projects as Oneothrix Point Never, and Emeralds, and The Silver Apples by the 1960s).

Arcade Island - Spring EP (2012)

Clinical Archives
Bandcamp

7.8

/Alternative pop, Poptronica, Pomp pop, Electronic pop, Glo-fi/

Comment: Arcade Island is the project by Alex Bew, an artist from Cumberland, Pennsylvania providing a handful of glimmering notches. However, stylistically it is a little startling because of mixing up a little bit mawkish boy band-alike vocal lines with more or less alternative pop/glo-fi-oriented sonic layers behind and around it. Theoretically it could reach the chart of the Billboard, or the stages of the Eurovision contest it would be welcomed to poison one of those seedbeds of mediocrity.

Tembryo - Tremblaya (2012)

Clinical Archives

9.3

/Free jazz, Avant-garde, Noise, Improvised music, Experimentalism, Crossover/

Comment: there are up three parts, however, all of them are tightly subjected to the algorithms of improvisational music. The case is not only about free jazz but also about progressions and appearances taking on gritty noiseful bits and chords and obscure yet freeing electronic explorations. In a word, the intention of the release can be delineated as a pigeonhole due to cross lush noise and optimally dispensed experimentation with each other. Tembryo is a trio from Prague, Czech Republic experimenting with the assistance of tenor saxophone, electric guitar, and cassette player/previously recorded sounds. All of that is performed as a live session. Truly plausible and satisfying. The project`s music can be compared to the likes of Borbetomagus, and some works by Bob Ostertag, Zloty Dawai, Vulcan Sessions.

The Rick Jensen Quartet - The Alarmist (2009)

Clinical Archives

9.0

/Improvisation, Experimentalism, Live session, Free jazz, Avant-jazz, Improvised noise/

Comment: TRJQ is a London-based improvisation/free jazz combo who provide a full of feeling set of 5 compositions. Lots of patterns, lots of energy, lots of air used to pour out from the whole. It is restless and it is insatiable during most of its course. More concretely, it exploits acoustic elements, it consumes electricity and the compositions are accentuated with the assistance of electronics (the legendary electronic keyboard Moog) now and then. It likes to be silentful in order to develop into frantic frantic crescendos and noiseful sonic ridges. Altogether, it is intricate and exciting simultaneously.

Gillicuddy - ...Plays Guitar (2012)

Clinical Archives
Lastfm

8.8

/Art pop, Singer-songwriter, Instrumental, Conceptual, Experimental/

Comment: undoubtedly Andreas Rohden is one of the most intriguing folk/indie songwriters from (Bochum) Germany and Europe generally. The recent array of 7-tracks clocking in at a length of 15 minutes all in all could be cited as the most accessible album ever produced by him. As the title hints at itself it consists of halcyon guitar chords only. Indeed, the pieces are polished, clear-cut and arranged without effects and whimsical point of view. Yet, on the other side, the whole seems to chime in arty way where arpeggio-pitched acoustic guitar chords used to occur as instrumental introspective visions which altogether will offer pleasant moments and calming milieus.

Nice Wings, Icarus! - Aurora (2011)

Clinical Archives
Lastfm

8.9

/Post-metal, Post-rock, Classical, Symphonic metal, Progressive rock, Crossover, Experimental rock/

Comment: while this 4-piece publication starts out with the math and progressive rock-soaked progression later it will be leaped into a more conventional chamber rock/progressive rock cubbyhole. However, the result by the Kiev, Ukraine-based trio is decent and elegant - those classical music-induced layers are profoundly laced with more murky, abrasive guitar works, which sometimes result in silentful introspections, at times get involved in very dizzy appearances (the finishing notch Haunted House, for instance). Their progressions used to originate not only from within the compartment of post-rock and classical music but also roaming on symphonic and post-metal territories thus allowing itself to be compared with the likes of Esmerine, The Butcher`s Ballroom, Our Subatomic Earth, Metsu.

Vulcan Sessions - Vulcan Sessions (2011)

Clinical Archives

8.6

/Improvised music, Electro-acoustic, Experimental, Avant-garde, Free jazz, Live session, Dark ambient, Ambient drone/

Comment: before the listening of this album I had listened to If, Bwana`s (the project of Al Margolis) enthralling Assemble.Age (2010, Mutable) which is a microtonal, improvised noise/electronica/drone embellished with the elements of classicism (I shall have to say thank you to Tiit K, who allowed me the album). However, the Vulcano Sessions does have similarities with the abovementioned so I can admit the continuation of the same path. The album was recorded in Tenerife by the most eminent Spanish improvisers (including the members of Trio Antimanierista who, by the way, have appeared many times in the roster of Clinical Archives before it. More concretely, minimally "orchestrated" or squeaking strings (cellos) are intertwined with brass-wind instruments, and live electronics. The last two tracks (Mi Patio (third); La Particula) used to deviate from the usual template of the issue, providing a poignant vision based on a kind of sharp-edged electronica/droning, vowel experiments and dizzy phase and chord changes, and the washes of massive ambient drones, respectively. Ultimately the listener can conclude this album with 7 tracks is an asylum for old and modern, for traditional and innovative.

Skala Collective - Black Constellation (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.4

/Krautrock, Post-rock, Avant-rock, Ambient rock, Instrumental rock, Psychedelic rock, Free jazz, Avant-industrial, Space rock, Experimental rock, Dub rock, Electronic, Improvised music/

Comment: Skala Collective, a trio out there provides a mesmerizing blend of post-rock, electronica, free jazz/improvised music, space rock, ambient. At times it is gloomy and contemplative on its propulsive post-metal/doom metal and illbient/dark ambient-esque run, at times thoroughly acute due to its krautrock-ish progressions. On the other side, however, the most off-beat tendency is that the trio (Roger; Maya; GBart) fuses the structures of post-rock with the steps of dub rock balancing between majestic and soothing. In any cases, you can draw parallels upon the likes of Cul De Sac, and Tortoise, Jessamine, and Bardo Pond, Melting Clouds, and Gastr Del Sol. All in all, it is an outstanding (rock) album for sure.

NOW - Sudden Bursts/Normal Breaths (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.0

/No Wave, Avant-pop, Noise rock, Dance rock, Drone pop, Electronic pop, Avant-garde, Krautrock, Experimental, Improvised music, Experimental indie, Art pop, Electro pop/

Comment: here are represented 24 tracks together, which in turn are divided into 2 parts. However, the common picture of the album is convincing thanks to the trio`s innovative but consistent approach by mixing up restraint drone pop montages, guggling electronica and static electro, lofty kraut dynamics, obscure British post-punk tradition, noiseful rock, and whimsical No Wave progressions with some hints at dadaistic tones and hooks. Indeed, the group does have its own idiosyncratic formula, which seems to be coming out into an incessant yet seamless fight between the improvised vapour and determined structures. As it is said at Clinical Archives, it is nowadays experimental pop (which can borrow capably from the past, analyze it and add its own thread to it).

Melting Clouds - Full Removal (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.3

/Post-rock, Dark pop, Chill out, Experimental rock, Psychedelic, Art rock, Organic electronica/

Comment: six profound, blissed-out/or even creepy insights into a sort of ethereally tinged experimental/post-rock from Kyiv, Ukraine. Indeed, it does involve interesting electronic modalities and uplifting psychedelic washes following the mentality and formula of arty rock music. At times solemn, cathedral-based organs are fused suggestively with the layers of concrete sounds. On the other side, the last track is an example of pleasant smooth art pop aesthetics.

VİYA - Huzur İsyanda EP (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.4

/Balkan brass, Improvised music, Chamber music, World music, Psychedelic, Mood music/

Comment: this is a great 3-track issue by a quintet from Turkey, played up mainly with the help of monumentally ascending, heartbreaking (Balkan) brass twists and chiming string-based magic dust and melodica solos. More concretely, it is a dynamical, picturesque orchestration-soaked chamber music which at times is deeply melancholic but very blissed-out either. The kick-off Huzur ósyanda and the finishing Oyuncaklar Ülkesi does include the impassioned singing manner by Barış Demirel (who is playing trumpet, melodica, and bass guitar either), who is recording his brand new one at the moment. This album is especially thought for all of those who used to admire the music of Goran Bregović, Bark Cat Bark, Beirut, Molotow Brass Orkestar and other such kind of bands or watch the films produced by Emil Kusturica.

Días de Septiembre - Días de Septiembre (2011)

Clinical Archives
Subwise
Lastfm

8.5

/Post-rock, Epic, Experimental rock, Indie rock, Alternative pop/rock/

Comment: a massive and winsome rock blowup from Caracas, Venezuela. As regarding the concept of die-hard post-rock whenever you may admit that it is business as usual because of being compiled of a bunch of guitar layers, penetrating guitar gears, punching drums, which is spiced up with some electronica inbetween it. Let`s take a ride from the slope of a mountain over to the peak of the mountain and thereafter let`s do contrariwise. Indeed, some guitars are bigger than others.

Valery & The Greedies - Where's Satan? (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.8

/Punk funk, Post-punk, Alternative dance, Dance rock, Art rock, Disco, Alternative, Experimental rock/

Comment: punksters have always loved to dance and abandon their bodies to grooves. All of that embarked on once at Hacienda headed by such groups as Joy Division, Section 25, A Certain Ratio. On the other side, at the same time in the USA were some groups living up to the melomans` expectations, for instance, James Chance & Contortions, and ESG. However, the Petrozavodsk/Petroskoi, Russia-based quartet Valery & The Greedies revivifies and revamps this glorious dance rock/dance punk tradition, making it out in a very eminent way. Indeed, Where`s Satan? is one of the best groove rock albums I have listened throughout the 00`s and 10´s. And you are used to think that the Klaxons is a good one... .

Squadra Omega - Tenebroso (2008)

Clinical Archives

9.2

/Krautrock, Experimental rock, Avant-rock, Space rock, Improvised music, Psychedelia/

Comment: Approximately one month ago I reviewed the Italian krautrock combo Squadra Omega`s album Rennes Le Chateau (2010, Vuoto). However, this one-track album was a follow-up to Tenebroso, issued on the legendary Russian label Clinical Archives on Christmas Eve in 2008. Similarly to RLC, it is a spatial, metronome-shaped improvised rock and roll-relied instance, filled in with blissed-out ridges and penetrating bottoms. Moreover, it is borderless in its absolutely psychedelic course. Yet, it makes some difference, more concretely, through a more straightforward approach, having no time for off-the-wall sonic knitting and effects. If to draw parallels upon a handful of kindred souls, however, you can enjoy Joxfield ProjeX, Frozen Geese, Replicast, and Faust (of course). By the way, OmegaMac used to exploit bzz bZz machine, and the coverprint is amazing.

Mua - Mua EP (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.2

/Post-punk, Industrial rock, Alternative rock, experimental rock, Gothic rock/

Comment: Behind Mua is Dani(e)l Telegin, a towering post-punk/gothic punk/rock musician from Samara, Russia. By pertaining of those aforementioned syles, as usual, dominating, oppressive vocal manner and grave content of lyrics (speaks out passionlessly and blandly about the facts of daily life, about murky shades and moments constituting different frames of mind) is backed up with meticulous, massive drum lines, industrial-inflected grit, and playfully designed guitars and its feedbacks/and overdrives and majestic synth whiffs in the backdrop. In conclusion, the whole of 4 tracks finishes off as a graceful unit ringing out in a harmonious way (as much as such obscure music could ever make it out). However, this EP can be compared to the music of Astma, Joy Division, Kino, Einstuerzende Neubauten. All the lyrics are sung in Russian (in fact, to get benefit from it).

Bubamara Brass Band - Bubamarija / Kashtanizma (2011)

Clinical Archives

8.8

/Brass music, Improvised music, World music, Balkan brass/

Comment: A 4-pieced instance of Balkan/and gypsy brass music with the fringes of big band-like undercurrents and improvised music from Moscow, Russia. Highly energetic and galvanized, i.e played up with the assistance of incessant key changes and tumultuous improvisation snippets left and right. On the other side, giving credit to Emir Kusturica`s music and popular films either.

Sobaki Kachalova - Gryazniye Botinki (2011)

Clinical Archives

8.4

/Art-pop, Indie pop, Alternative pop/rock, Bubblegum pop/

Comment: If to speak about the recent Sobaki Kachalova`s album and the starting point of indie tradition in Russia/and the former Soviet Union we cannot be without making the reference toward the early period of Kino, Viktor Tsoi`s headed band chimed between uncompromising Smiths-esque “ballads” and pouncing post-punk-ish rhythms. Both bands were truesome pop juggernauts by both sides of the Iron Curtain. Here is a set of 10 songs where catchy guitar chords and summery strums and guitar overdrives are sometimes intervened with sheer brass attacks and artistic slo-mo bubblegum pop. Simple but suggestive.