Circadian Eyes – A Future Nostalgic (2018)

Hawk Moon

• Post-rock 
• Electronic shoegaze 
• Indie pop/rock 
• Alternative pop/rock 
• Epic 
• Ambient rock 
• Art pop/rock

Comment: do you like M83? I do not like. On the other side, I like it. It is like listening to an average example of punk music when three or four tracks from the beginning seem to be great but thereafter all would change into a quite boring, annoying case. The same can be said about the French project's sound sometimes. It might be the reason comes out from there the issue starts off with the most ecstatic moments yet later on nothing new cannot be added to a mix. At the same time the patheticness of electronic shoegaze/nugaze sound is sustained which at times may make impression upon, at times not. It depends on. It depends on different subjective and objective reasons. Circadian Eye's 10-notch whole being released on Hawk Moon Records is an analogue case – before having consumed the beer at the amount of a couple of litre I can feel the result is fine by the sounds and production, by its touch and temperance. And a quintessential mix eventually would come to fruition. Bryan Collins aka Circadian Eye's purpose is just to create an outing with hovering progressions and majestic synthesised chords and propulsive drumming beneath. It might be it is not an analogue case with M83 because by listening to this release three times in a row (as I used to behave while writing a comment) I did not feel any sort of embarrassment for a while. In a word, the result is completely accomplished and absolutely worth to be added to the list of the best albums in 2018 at RMH. And the beer would have been let outside the discussion it did not make any difference at all. Great by any means.

Damn Robot! – Derp (2016)

Hawk Moon

• Post-rock 
• Indie rock 
• Art rock 
• Alternative rock 
• Epic 
• Ambient rock 
• Electronic

Comment: behind the project Damn Robot! are Rob Honey, Tom Honey, and Jamie Brett from the UK and their 3-track outing is driven by massive guitar threads, ennobling synthesised penumbras with upper bright chords, and vocal based variations of sublime female vox and her turns and mechanical syllables as if coming out from the throat of a robotic amazon. I do not know what does it mean derp but I would like to think of it to be the unknown analogue to this music being electronically tickling and providing enough impulses to the listener's nervous system. Musically it includes basically hints at a classical indie compartment and piano driven and massive guitar outbursts on post-rock. For instance, at There's That Word Again the listener can perceive a dignifying crescendo which can be a good accompaniment for an epic motion piture, especially at the fadeout phase of the movie. Indeed, the issue is a solid one and recommended for all those who fancy post-rock. Consecrate it! The issue is apart of the discography of Winchester, UK-based Hawk Moon Records.

Oceanus - Sirens (2013)

Hawk Moon

• Post-rock
• Power pop
• Ambient rock
• Alternative rock
• Post-metal
• Screamo
• Epic

Outstanding tracks:
Sirens (Part I)
Sirens (Part II)
Nautica
Ora

Damn Robot! - Jasurp (2012)

Hawk Moon

Lastfm

9.2

/Post-rock, Experimental rock, Ambient rock, Epic/

Comment: Damn Robot is a duo consisting of the brothers Mark, and Tim Honey who in turn have associated themselves with such groups as Good Weather For An Airstrike, Inachus, and Oceanus. Their 12-track issue is up there at the base of beatifically flourishing and eruptive guitar walls and pronounced drum sequences which now and then are varied with pleasing female singing by Alex Fawcett, lofty orchestrated vapors, more ambient-soaked gliding, programmed beats, some electronic effects and haphazardly appeared spoken word snippets. On the other side, there are some exceptions either. For instance, The One Who Knocks is managed in a way to embrace the elements of profoundly haunting soul music backed up by discrete electric piano-relied chords. By its majesty Pulp would be proud of it, for instance. In a word, it is an ordinary example of a post-rock psyche existing recently. Very good listening indeed.

Damn Robot! - Hunang Skrímsli (2011)

Megaupload
Hawk Moon
Lastfm

8.8

/Post-rock, Electronic pop, Experimentalism, Sound collage, Cut and paste, Weird, Avant-garde/

Comment: Obviously there is more than just one way to find out proper possibilities for translating this sound into minds and words, though. Despite of it, however, it seems to me that the spinal c(h)ord of this album is somewhat related to a post-rock-ish endeavour (probably because of being most frequently represented here) mixed up with fluttering electronic progressions and some unconventional solutions. More profoundly, confronting mellow and harsh, acute and indirect, radio tunings, schizoid samples, rapidly changing sonic episodes, robot pop vocal lines, however, it might be that the conclusion of circumstances happened here all the way allows it to get direction and impetus for. My favorite notch from there is No Slack, But Luckily The Seats Go Back reminiscent of Be There, the collaboration track by Ian Brown with Unkle in 1999. Uhh, beautiful and redemptive.

Oathless Standing Where Our Paths Shall Meet (Hawk Moon)

For sure, the British have been having a proud tradition of ambient music veered from the conceptions of Brian Eno and David Toop to the later and recent works by the Caretaker, Cousin Silas, Phillip Wilkerson and Simon Housley. Simon Housley is a young musician from Stoke-on-Tent having been releasing music since 2007. His first tracks were played out as spacey neofolk/chamber folk-drenched pieces, which soon evolved into a more melancholic space music approach, completed strongly with the ingredients of modern classical/symphonic progressions and dark ambient/dystopbient, and infused layers of musique concrete as well. Besides an array of singles, however, Housley has self-released three albums being as an obligatory task for every serious ambient music lover to be listened here and now. Those issues are Seen Through Reflection, Lambent Amber Winds, and Zephyr.

No doubt, his new release of 8 tracks continues to move along those aforementioned ambient characteristics. In principle, it is slow, minimal yet extensive, and hypnotic based upon the phase changing-alike methodology. Though it is an austere sonic example it does evoke a lot of emotions, for instance, extraditing the sense of still life, as if foretelling us about the forthcoming cold and snowy winter. In fact, the season is arrived exactly in such kind of embodiment and the emotion is mightily up here to be became much more dinstinct. Vis à vis with Housley`s previous releases it does seem to be a bit more solemn yet remaining its status as a somehow joyous oeuvre, though.

Listen to it here

9.1

...And The Earth Swarmed With Them The Fading Voice Of The Old Era Speaks To Us, But Where Are The Ears Left To Hear It? (Hawk Moon/Bandcamp)

The long-named bands with even longer album titles are used to be having a reference to... . To what exactly, I mean, actually?

The four-track debut release, not including their demo issue approximately 6 months ago, by the Essex-based band, consisting of Mitchell G. Johns (guitars, bass, keyboard), Ted Parsons (drums), Kat Stanbridge (vocals), Chrysa T (vocals), Jeff Ball (violin). Quartet`s high-chorded guitar pieces, solid channelizing into sublime sonic upturns and crescendos, middle-paced and low-paced tempos, obligatory march rhythms, and in-chamber noir-drifting ambiences; indeed, after broody low-key shuffles around there it is going to have epic turns into instrumental trance-evoking soundscapes. Infinite drifts inbetween silence and noise, (as one of the main concepts of music is used to be), inbetween ascents and slowdowns. In short, the array is not surprising if you are used to get involved in post-rock tradition, though, there are some unexpected moments hitting against your experience and premiss-swamped networks. For instance, using the female vocalis not an usual pattern, moreover, in the ending track The Slow Decay Had Already Begun Kat Stanbridge has embodied into a role of a soprano fury directing the band`s conception across on the other side, being rather placed closer to the likes of symphonic metal acts (for instance, Diablo Swing Orchestra, and Nightwish) than the epicness of instrumental (post-) rock music. By the way, the album is fringed by some peripheric pop luminaries: In addition to Ted Parsons (Jesu, Godflesh, ex-Swans) behind the drums, the album is mixed by Justin Broadrick, and mastered by James Plotkin. In a nutshell, even it might be seemed a bit decayed it is a strong work yet. Take your time out and concern on it.

Listen to it here

8.4