Syndrôm - Nomades En No Man's Land (2010)

Bypass
Archive.org
Lastfm

8.8

/Samplecore, Jungle, Drum and bass, Experimentalism, Breakbeat, Rhythmcore, Musique concrete, Folktronica, Crossover, Avant-garde/

Comment: Within those 20 tracks will have happened much in fact. Undoubtedly the whole release is trodden upon densely swinging-grooving beat combinations, mainly on jungle, breakbeats and its closest "step" genres. Yet, the whimsical pace mayhem is differentiated by another level which is constructed of concrete sounds, spoken word overthrows, ethnic drums, the first half of the 20`s century proto jazz, bunch of elaborated sounds, murky soundscape and much more else. By its ideology, idiosyncratical sonic mirror and sheer intellectuality, however, Syndrôm resembles the Italian artist IlKobra.

Boletes - Hunnibug EP/Kites Overhead - In the Shadow of the Mountain EP (2010/2011)

No-Source

Forest Records
Bandcamp
Lastfm
Lastfm

8.4

/Dark folk, Folk noir, Alt-folk, Ambient folk, Singer-songwriter, Experimental indie, Post-rock/

Comment: This is a split compiled of two EP`s. Boletes is Roy Cornall from Scotland who plays up slightly flavoured noir-hued folk. More concretely, this is mainly about middle tempod guitar strummings which are fringed with reverb effects and synthesized walls and lots of changes. Kites Overheas is Gene Kondusky from Canada who showcases his abilitis in the realm of of post-rock-infused indie/folk pop, wherein are presented frizzy guitar drives, reversed sonic effects, pace progressions and repetitive elements, all in all, demonstrating dynamical transitions from acoustic pop notches over to electrified and more technical pop occurrence.

Melophobia – Fukushima (11_04M) (2011)

Webbed Hand

8.6

/Soundscape, Dark ambient, Conceptual, Sound-art, Abstract, Electro-acoustic, Musique concrete, Dystopbient/

Comment: Actually it is amazing how fastly some musicians have already reacted to the horrendous events in Japan nearly one week ago releasing conceptual albums or dedicating the compilations. If to check the album title out Melophobia, a Greek project, is directly connected to it. For instance, (Otsuchi, population = 0), or (No.1 reactor + No.2 reactor + No.3 reactor etc), or (The Bank of Japan & 15 trillion yen). By its outer form the album seems to be filled in with really austere and minimal tunes, yet, by its inner core (or in translation) it comes more into impressive shape, reflecting exactly upon the feelings of despair and fear. Indeed, therein can be detected for creepy, at times almost invisible drone/hiss pulsatings, be a witness for weak echoes of human speech and the sounds of alarm signals and overflowing planes and bypassing trains.

Hox Vox - Marcel Duchamp

Canoply Games - Harmony (2011)

Jamendo

8.4

/Dada music, Fusion, Experimentalism, Avant-garde, Noise, Post-metal, Avant-electronica, Crossover, Modern classical/

A dada musician/peripheral experimentalist from Bratsk, Russia is back again. This time he arrived at with 8 new short-running tracks, however, the main topic of the release is exactly relied on diverse layers which are densely interplayed with each other. Post-metal meets fusion/Zeuhl meets off-kilter electronics/sound effects meets modern classical meets noise meets silence. Brooding guitar riffs, steel-ish noise and at times unexpectedly inserted bleeps, galoping cadences and drifting sonic massives make sense all in all. Indeed, a potent output reminiscent of CG`s earlier effort Cthulhucore (2009).

Good Natured Threat - Short Stories EP (2011)

Melodica

8.9

/Indie, Crossover, Post-pop, Trip-hop, Downtempo, Folktronica, Hip-hop, Dub/

Comment: Behind Good Natured Theart is a duo Mark and Lara Hjorthoy from Vancouver, Canada who have created an inspiring pastiche from downtempo, indie, folktronica, hip-hop, trip-hop, minimal and optimal dub and other styles on their 3-track debut issue. In fact, lots of diverse guitar chords and riffs are mixed up with lots of beats which, by its side, are built on permanent variations. Obviously this release is also a case when it is used to talk about post-crossover genre. So if you are interested in such kind of music listen to such artists as Menion and Arrogalla as well. And the second track Until We Have Faces resembles strongly some tunes from Bizarre`s masterpiece Cafe De Flor (1996). In a word, this is a solid accomplishment.

Korhymes ft. Astèr - Stabilize

A Holiday Friends Christmas Treasury Volume Two - Part One (2010)

Holiday Records

9.2

/Conceptual, Indie pop, Alternative pop, Twee pop, Poptronica/

Comment: It might be this moment is not the most proper time for the Christmas events and reflections, though, indie-based Christmas songs on its own are not usual phenomenons in any cases and any time. Holiday Records is a tough indie label who has offered lots of charming tunes during many years. On this compilation can be met the songs by the label`s essential guards like Victory VIII, Arctic Flow, Travelogue, Jes Maybe, and She`ll Be Eating Her Nails When I`m Famous. Especially outstanding is a track by Arctic Flow`s Memories To Hold which could be considered as one of the most beautiful songs ever created. Let`s add it to the bookmark of songs of the closure of year.

Die Stille - Mirror (2011)

45RPM-Records

Archive.org

Lastfm

8.2

/World music, Fusion, Chillout, Psychedelic electronica, Psy-trance, Electronic pop, Ethnotronica, Ethnic music, Psy-ambient/

Comment: This 4-track case is about a cavalcade of brooding and burbling psy-trance music which comes to pass to meet ethnic music (islamic culture-relied vocal samples; tabla programmings), psychedelic overthrows in rhythms and timbres, ambient-esque spheres and occasional flamenco guitar chords. My favorite instance is Time To Leave.

The Gifted Children - Fallacy Stilts (2011)

The Gifted Children

8.5

/Psychedelic pop, Alternative pop/rock, Experimental indie, Alt-folk, Chamber pop/

Comment: This is a group from Rochester/Buffalo, USA, having been active since the mid-90`s period and recorded more than 1300 songs, yet, remaining in status of unsung heroes to date. On this record they have featured 6 songs of experimental indie pop, more concretely, compiled of dynamically running strumming guitars, subdued near-shoegaze sounds, delicious progressions on orchestrated elements, acidious sonic effects and off-kilter synth ripples. The small things and beautiful songs make sense indeed.