Infirm Individual & AMZ (Split) - The Glorious Triforce (2011)

Infirm Individual

8.8

/Drum and bass, Jungle, IDM, Experimental electronica, 8-bit, Tracker music, Crossover, Techno/

Comment: This 13-track album is a split issue of the two artists who used to share their off-kilter but quite unique soundscape with the rest of the world. Indeed, they have a journey through the various landscapes of rhythm-based explorations. For instance, the opening track is an awesome bastard drifting between the Orb-esque ambient techno/dub and Panacea-like tough poundering of drum and bass/jungle. However, later the concept will have completed through the chiming IDM-hued techno, sharp and naive cuts of bitpop/tracker music, psychedelic soaring of electronica, and mainly through the troubled yet charming appeal of drum and bass/jungle sound. And as you have figured out it yet, there can be met a loads of shifts inbetween those aforementioned styles as well. A masterful accomplishment indeed.

Tatuki Seksu - Hanazawa EP (2011)

Takashi-kun

8.6

/Shoegaze, J-pop, Alternative pop, Indie pop, Crossover, Electronic/

Comment: This is a Japanese version of shoegaze music. In fact, it seems to have even some advantages in comparison with the Western contemporaries. In detail, it reveals itself through a more higher frequency in changing of chords and moods, offering a more vivid approach in vocal structures. By the way, the closure track incorporates the elements of hip-hop and dance (rock), ending up as a cover version of My Bloody Valentine`s Soon.

Anna Bradley - Single (2010)

Bandcamp

8.5

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

Comment: This is not an issue by someone female singer-songwriter. This is a masculine trio coming from NY and offering a two-headed single harking back to the 80`s , to the golden era of jangle pop. Indeed, the first track is a vivid example of it, the second one can be considered a funky version of it, first of all, having got the impression through the very catchy hooks in the centre of it.

Clark Nova Portable - No Wait Okay Now (2010)

Luxus-Arctica

9.8

/Folktronica, Organic electronica, Laptop folk, Experimental folk, Crossover, Dream folk, Ambient folk/

Comment: Such otherworldly beautiful, fairy-like folk tales crossed with subtle touch of electronics comes from Oslo, Norway and is created by Rene Simmons. All those silentfully evoking and running progressions have acquired potent power for conquering a place in your intimate corner of soul and heart. By its power of conviction and the kind of aesthetics it reminds of the Icelandic mùm or the Swedish sonic alchemist Oskar Hallbert. It chimes more than the music used to do. It cradles either temptation and redemption.

iqcm para - Días Sonoros (2011)

Thrmnphone

8.8

/Noise, Harsh noise, Experimentalism, Avant-garde, Ritualistic/

Comment: On the macroscopic level, it is noise music. On the microscopic level, however, it used to be still noise music. Thudding, even threatening bass lines, looping snippets, warped sonic effects (which sometimes will resonate with surrounding street sounds), at times harsh white noise, and the pounding of martial drums all of that wrapped up in intensely fluttering sonic monoliths. All in all, as the whole and as the particles of it, all is impressively composed and channelized, resembling of a kind of the ritual music.

Il Kobra - Sturm Und Drang (2011)

Sostanze

8.4

/Drum and bass, Classical music, Crossover, Experimental electronica/

Comment: Edoardo Taori is a classically trained musician from Italy who had played in metal- and hardcore bands. However, his album from the previous year, All`epeca, was an essential killer, being mixed up through drum and bass/and jungle with the world music, rave, and turntablism - being one of the best albums in 2010. In principle, he continues to have a surf trip on the same wave, being highly filled with energy and impetus, crossing this time drum and bass/jungle mainly with classical music. Although he has lost some rates in synergy and catchiness, it is an intricate issue yet.

Noisesurfer - Ambient Drone Focus EP (2011)

Noisesurfer
Bandcamp

9.2

/Ambient noise, Psyambient, Ritualistic, Downtempo, New Age, Dub-tech, Experimental electronica, Crossover/

Comment: This is a 5-track EP by Noisesurfer (Joachim Rontexlius and Rachel Moraledius), a Spanish-based duo who has been very profilic during the last years. All the sound represented on it is vastly convincing indeed. More detailly, it is noisy and used to exploit the templates for getting highly infiltrated and mixed-up soundscapes. Indeed, it is far from being just an instance of orthodox-like noise exploration. It has managed to incorporate a loads of stylistic elements inside it from right and left - powerfully thudding ritualistic techno beats, psyambient-soaked and downtempo-esque environments, dub echo experiments. From there can be found out some minutiae harking back to the soothing feeling of New Age-y explorations, however, letting no paralyzing impressions of the whole as a bleak, digital-dominated sonic pile. All is refreshing and suggestive.

Pasqualino Ubaldini - Viaggio Primo

Words After - The Armada of Lights (2010)

Bandcamp

8.3

/Alternative pop/rock, Soft rock/

Comment: This quartet comes from Dundee, Michigan, USA offering an album with 6 tracks which habits are domesticated on a scale relied on alternative pop and soft rock, respectively. On its dominating scale, those melancholically whining vocal lines are supplemented by moderately tumbling guitar gears and consistent running.

Sacred Animals - Welcome Home EP (2010)

Bandcamp
Delphi
Lastfm

9.0

/Folktronica, Baroque folk, Alt-folk, Epic, Chamber folk, Indie folk, Singer-songwriter, Experimental indie, Post-folk/

Comment: We like Radiohead, Britpop, and modern Welsh/Celtic indie folk either, isn´t? Sacred Animals is a singer-songwriter, who comes from Ireland, who sounds like an example of Britpop made out in a mold of the folk music which is at times embellished with epic baroque-like characteristics, at times with subtle electronics/glockenspiel clicking sound. Indeed, you can figure out some similarities with Radiohead, Gorky`s Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals. Yet, it intends to go away from the harrowing urban environment, instead having left off into bucolic introspections of the countryside.