Stray Dogg - Almost (2011)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Singer-songwriter, Alt-folk, Chamber folk, Baroque folk, Epic/

Comment: Yesterday I reviewed Shaita, a darkwave-ish modeled singer-songwriter from Zagreb, Croatia. Here is another set of suggestive songs from Balkan (this time from Belgrade, Serbia). These nine songs are an instance of melancholy-drenched introspection using epic transitions and lush arrange of organic/acoustic sounds. The combo consist of Dukat Stray (guitars, vocal, harp), Jelena Damjanovic (piano), Ana Jankovic (violin, backing vocals), and Marko Ignjatovic (solo guitar). Awesome.

Georg Hekt - Three Around Ten (2010)

Stigae
Lastfm

8.6

/Deep dub, Tech-dub, Club dance, Chill out/

Comment: The album starts out and continues with whimsically skipping chords of elaborated funk (rock) as if coming from some solo albums by Holger Czukay. Later the concept of this Berlin-based yet of Bulgarian heritage musician (born in Stara Zagora) will be entered into shimmering area of deep dub/tech-dub as if thought for the listeners of late hour radio shows. Such laid-back sound yet having no laziness within it - because of being genuinely profound on its progressions.

The New Mystikal Troubadours - The New Mystikal Troubadours (2009)

 Free Music Archive
Mt6

9.3

/Drone folk, Experimental folk, Trance folk, Psychedelic folk, Epic, Avant-folk, New Weird America, Raga folk/

Comment: Those mystical yet psychedelic and raga-tinged guitar strums variegated with some reversed sonic snippets and drone progressions and (semi-)orchestrated beauty by a New Weird American duo from USA, consisting of Dave Gibson (Agrarians) and Matt Perzinski (Bad Liquor Bond). The self-titled, 6-track album was their debut issue. However, lots of mystics, synergy and magical feel can be felt imbuing from every of their sophistically treated chord. Indeed, the duo have succeeded to lace the past tradition of psychedelic folk with the nowadays modern one.

Shaita - Halfasleep (2011)

Seventh Crow
Lastfm

8.7

/Darkwave, Noirwave, Lo-fi, Singer-songwriter, Experimental pop, Dark pop, Neoclassical, Synth noir/

Comment: Halfasleep is the sophomore issue by Shaita, a female singer-songwriter from Zagreb, Croatia. Despite being the singer-songwriter, she used to be very remote from the kind of folk-ish sound. In detail, her bias is turned toward the dark-shaded corners of pop music. During the run of 7 tracks, however, loads of mirrors and reflected pictures of her own will be shattered and the subsequent shards of it will be moulded below the following layers. It is mostly brooding, having even of malicious shift, yet, on the other side Shaita is not a representative of orthodox darkwave sound incorporating the elements of lo-fi sound, thus resembling of the Estonian underground star Maria Minerva, for instance.

Candy Panda – Andro & Gigolo (2009)

Creative Obsession
Lastfm

8.7

/Bubblegum techno, Tekno, Electro pop, Robo pop, Crossover/

Comment: If to summarize this album shortly, it can be considered a bubblegum-ish coverage of a barely distinguishable line between techno and tekno, which at times is hold on the course of elliptical shapes of rhythmic bows and robotic pace patterns. The outstanding tracks are respectively Live in Paris which mixes up 8-bit bleeps with the catchy, electro-fried running, and Clash with an irresistibly pulsating tekno gear. All in all, it is a convincing, 5 -pieced issue indeed.

Stray Dogg - Almost

Barbagallo - Spectacle (2009)

Grateful Dead - Live at Carousel Ballroom on 1968-03-30 (1968)

Archive.org

8.6

/Psychedelic rock, Blues, Southern rock, Soul rock, Live session, Classical rock/

Comment: This 11-track gig was performed just one year before Jerry Garcia & Co`s performing at the famous Woodstock festival in 1969. This is a dense mix of psychedelic rock, southern rock, blues-tinged jams and even got drowned in soul and gospel music at times. For instance, if to juxtapose it to the other important psychedelic rock outfit, the Doors, GD was even more influenced by the US-based roots sound which mainly bases on the black music traditions.

Keshco - Accountants By Day (2010)

23 Seconds
Lastfm

8.4

/Experimental indie, Alt-folk, Weird pop, Art-pop, Folktronica, Psychedelic pop/

Comment: This London-based trio has been active for more than a decade, having released a handful of issues during the period. The concrete album under the 23 Seconds records starts out with somewhat solemn yet very warm vocal timbres and spatial flute-relied appearances. In following tracks the whole will mainly be structured through quirky experimental pop evolvements, however, it is an intricate kind of the singer-songwriterism having no inclination to be revealed it at once. It sounds almost normal/or a little "deviating" from the usual standards of alt-folk/experimental folk. In detail, you can figure out lots of elements the issue is constituted of- haunting soundscapes, toy sounds, skipping guitar strums, tricky synth elaborations, unexpected key and mood changes.

Professor Kliq - Movement EP (2010)

Jamendo
Lastfm

8.8

/Digital funk, Breakcore, Hip-hop, Electro pop, Electronic pop, Electro-tech, Crossover, Hardstep/

Comment: This is a "hard" album in many senses. Indeed, it is not easy to categorize it and get the initial sense from it. This Chicago-based resident used to repeat in the second track All Control (Hard Version) too that they have lost all the control. (Do they have it actually?) No doubt, the album is the sort of grower, revealing its machinery - first of all, regarding those highly energized, cadence-relied skeletons - with each following listening. It seizes the machine-alike structures of brooding hardstep and rusty breakcore music, bug-filled digital funk (Work At Night - an outstanding moment on it), determined hip-hop, and sampledelic progressions.