Sight Follows Sound - Supply Lines (2009)

Dog Eared

8.9

/Experimentalism, Trance-music, World music, Noise, Crossover, Space rock, Dark ambient, Synth music, Musique concrète, Electro-acoustic, Avant-garde, Sound-art, Acousmatics/

Comment: Dog-Eared is a solid experimental music label from Mexico which has been on hiatus for the last two years, though. More concretely, it has been an umbrella label for sound-art, dark ambient, art rock, and much more else. The concrete album of 3 long-spanning tracks comes from Birmingham, Alabama, USA which used to be not a easy case to be categorized for, for instance. It veers from sound-art-y minimal yet sheer soundscapes to dark ambient, from live recorded (ethnic) drumming to improvised noise jams, from sampling of found sounds to synth pop-like interventions , from space rock/space noir snippets to a kind of exorcized ambient vision. Indeed, it is a potent ghost from the near-past.

ne:o - direkt (2011)

Aaahh

9.0

/Post-rock, Fusion, Psychedelic, Improvised music, Progressive rock, Kosmische Musik, Art-rock, Live session/

Comment: A gig by this quintet from Dresden was recorded in 2009 in theatre somewhere and thereafter formed into the fourth album. More concretely, it is an artful attempt to cross shitloads of genres - vital post-rock, jazzy electronics, dance-appealed Kosmische Musik, cinematic fusion, prog-rock, purple-hued vibes and effortless dynamic impetus into the awesome whole. The result is masterfully realized and thereby highly recommended. More detailly, it might be described as an instance of ringing out somewhat in-between Tortoise, King Crimson, danceable krautrock and funk-y no wave bands.

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.

Tracing Arcs - Eye See You Too (Remixes & Forbidden Fruit) (2011)

23 Seconds

9.2

/Trip-hop, Electronic pop, Remixes, Nu jazz, Down-tempo, Chillout, Big beat, Drum and bass/

Comment: This is a remix album of the issue Eye See You by the English duo Fran Kapelle & Paul H. Addie released on iD.EOLOGY in 2010. Indeed, you can discover yourself through 9 mostly mesmerizing remixes from here, veering from blissful slow-tempo (at times laid-back) electronica and nu jazz ripples to majestic big beat and other solid breaks-backed developments, from soothing ones to whimsical bounces. Those velvet-like and sometimes even seductive milieus around the rhythm sequences do have the value on its own for sure.

GNs Compilation - Break Asymmetry

pous - case study of a drone (2011)

NoEcho

9.3

/Hip-hop, Leftfield, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, No-hop, Noise-hop/

Comment: Welcome to the future, motherfuckers... . It is a frenzied instance of leftfield/avant-garde hip-hop which is crumpled with noise-filled undercurrents or ripping explosions, off-kilter electronics/cacophonic/near-glitch minimalism, in any cases, with seemingly all of that which seems to be out of the slippery middle points and central focuses. Omnipotently destructive madman alongside with re-constructive impression - this would be a slogan for that issue. Altogether, this is a genuine example of radical hip-hop (if something would sound really radical in this post shit era of the post-modernism).

Sofa Club - Ruby Red (2011)

Bandcamp

9.6

/Synth pop, Alternative pop, New Wave, Electronic pop, Alternative dance/

Comment: A fantastic mix of New Romanticism and New Wave, which more concretely does hint at lacing of catchy synth harmonics with uplifting dance-appealed cadences and all-round colourful luster. Yet, it might hide more than you are able to figure out at the first sight. There can be detected for some similarities with the timeless aestethics of Ariel Pink, for instance. All in all, it is one of the best keyboard-based albums during the last years. Indeed, it pretends to sound like dance music in the discotheque of a flying spaceship in the future sometime. Really retrofuturistic - the future is actually now.

The Sunshine Factory - Sugar (2011)

BFW Recordings

8.7

/Shoegaze, Alternative rock, Noise rock, Fuzz pop, Psychedelia, Dream pop/

Comment: Honestly, after the first listening time this publication of 10 tracks did not satisfy me - it seemed to be way too superficial and easy and at times incomprehensibly strange with those unexpectedly cutted off songs showcasing itself like a sort of demo-like songs. However, I decided to listen to it further and general perspective of the album started to better with each time. Beyond the incorporating of dizzy guitar noise impetuses similar to Isn`t Anything and Loveless respectively, the album starts out to fall into convincing psychedelia via noiseful walls spiced up with a handful of electronic sentiments and danceable rhythms. Indeed, it is a strong output from Alabama, USA.

Sturqen - Episode 07 (2011)

Radius

9.0

/Noise, Minimal, Experimental electronica, Drone noise, Abstract electronica, Microtonal, Avant-garde, Conceptual, Sound-art/

Comment: Cèsar Rodrigues and David Arantes do conjure up machine-determined sonic shamanism where abstract droning/drilling noise meets somewhat monotonically stomping cadences at times. Lots of shards of noise, hisses and shades can be met around there. By a more conceptual aspect, Portugese radio transmissions were exploited as initial source material for the track which was created separately of each other. Those 18 minutes can be compared either to Pan Sonic or Autechre, or both of the legends of electronic music.

Rodzmatos – Untimely Music (2011)

PandaFuzz

7.4

/Improvised music, Jazz, Cool jazz/

Comment: This silentfully rolling set of 5 long-running (or very long-running) tracks resembles of the workouts by Miles Davis from the ending part of 60`s (his collaboration with Gil Evans) except as if the trumpets were replaced with string instruments and cool jams. At times beautiful, at times a little bit boring and predictable, during most of its course it is consistent yet - such kind of salon music.