The Shalfonts - Sturt Logic (2009)

Giant Manilow

7.3

/Alternative pop/rock, Lad rock, DIY/

Comment: This was the first record by a sort of all-star band closely related to the Giant Manilow Records, though, most of the songs was written by Ralph Morton and Bryn Bowen. The soundscape of the album is filled in with rough guitar strummings, electrified feedbacks and drum blasts, sounding even a bit amateurish, however, ready to move on to reach new heights in the future ( for instance, at Mjuk Nation).

Rare Plants Garden - Rare Plants Garden (2011)

Archive.org

Bandcamp

9.0

/Psychedelic pop, Poptronica, Leftfield, Crossover, Chilltronica, Folktronica, Soul, Funk/

Comment: No doubt, RPR is a fine zeitgeist combo from Russia incorporating the elements of modern black music (unconventional soul and funk vibes), shiny laidback-psychedelia/poptronica, lazily shuffling free folk, subtle nu jazz-hued ticking, over-your-head-gliding cosmic/ambient/deep dub and even recorded sounds from the nature. If you like the oeuvres by Panda Bear, Washed Out, Stereolab and other such artists you might find out something joyous for you as well. For instance, Zuko People is a killer track.

Cagey House - Calico Pastry Sunshine (2011)

Bypass
Archive.org

9.1

/Psychedelic, Art-pop, Plunderphonics, Film noir, Cut and paste, Avant-garde, Experimental electronica, Space age pop, Hauntology/

Firstly, Dave Keifer aka Cagey House hides behind himself a peculiar phenomenon where the music of him seems to be sounded outside of the recent era, mostly back to the 60`s and 70`s, yet, it is strictly future music on its own. Secondly, as he is used to manipulate with samples and sounds, he is able to evoke lots of good memories and direct it upon the listeners as well. In the recent case, however, psychedelic electronica meets space age pop meets hauntology, all of which is wrapped up in the concept of plunderphonic/sampledelic music as Keifer has practised during more than 10 albums so far. Still, it is greatly funny and even some art-rock-ish tunes can be heardable over a long stretch of time. By the way, the coverprints of Keifer`s albums are still used to be great ones.

NO ZU - New Age EP (2011)

New Weird Australia
Bandcamp

9.2

/New Weird Australia, Avant-rock, No wave, Dance rock, Electro-rock, Psychedelic, Experimental indie, Avant-dance, Modern tribal, Krautrock/

Comment: Oh yeah...New Age EP can be classified as an example of the New Weird Australia, yet, which does mean it has a few to do with folk-based music as it is usually ordinary regarding the New Weird America movement. However, the issue has excellent drifts between Talking Heads-alike funk rock grooves and modern tribal music a la Gang Gang Dance and full-electronic krautrock. Lots of whimsical yet meticulous rhythms and drums, dynamical bass undercurrents and stirring synth overthrows.

The Munitionettes – Fast Jurassic (2011)

Mine All Mine
Bandcamp

8.7

/Electro-punk, Post-punk, Crossover, Chiptune, 8-bit, Tracker music, Psychedelic, Dance rock/

Comment: I guess it is not an ordinary example of that danceable punk rock with strong post-punk influences will be set out in the combination with chiptune/8-bit/tracker music blasts. In any cases, it sounds more convincing than most of nowadays dance rock groups.

Kirill Platonkin - Repose (2011)

Darkwinter

8.8

/Dark ambient, Illbient, Dystopbient, Musique concrete, Minimal, Drone, Ambient drone/

Comment: Brooding, howling, void, bleak, elemental, permanent growings into somewhere. An intense composition by a Russian dark ambient-nik.

Moon & Sun - The Wild Things (2010)

Beep! Beep! Back Up The Truck
Jamendo
Bandcamp

8.6

/Lo-fi, Slowcore, Dark pop, Indie pop, Singer-songwriter, Psychedelic pop, Experimental/ indie/

The Swedish singer-songwriter Monica Tormell issued an interesting, 6-tracks album recorded on Curacao, in Amsterdam and far out of urban noise in the countryside of Sweden somewhere. She was using instruments like the tambu drum, steeldrums, clavé sticks and the Swedish zither, balancing mainly between slowcore tunes and dark-hued pop.

Zoom-On-A-Kill - Couleurs Sans Danger (2010)

Bandcamp

6.4

/Lo-fi, DIY, Drag, Haunted house, 8-bit, Cut and paste, Digital hardcore, Samplecore/

Comment: This is a bulimic formation of 8 tracks obviously having no basic stylistic stream for the concept. The issue is mainly constructed as a murky lo-fi/primitive progression without a clear intention, however, having incorporated the minutiae of witch house, 8 bit, harsh digital sound processing, tekno and sound collage.

Dimaension X - Loco-Motives (2003)

Archive.org
Dimaension X

8.2

/Metal, Progressive rock, Fusion, Crossover, Crust-punk/

Behind this project and issue is David Lanciani, a profilic musician from the USA who is used to combine diverse sound elements with each other - for instance, inserting the samples from video games into metal music, lo-fi-esque synth sections are set over billowy gears of progressive rock, and even for contrast moreover, some soft rock minutiae and fondness for flaky progressions are showcased here. Yet, the album is just one station for to be moved further to another station.

Noosfera - Factor

Noosfera