Hoorah!Hello - Vincent

Vulpiano - Sampler EP: Vol. 3 (2011)

Vulpiano

8.8

/Doom rock, Alternative rock, Fuzz pop, Indie rock, Psych-rock, Experimental rock, Electronic pop, Crossover/

Comment: First off, what a pity that Natural Snow Building, the most well known artist (and one of the best/deepest/idiosyncratic combos worldwide at all) on Vulpiano Records is not represented herein now (though, this time the compilation features the new Vulpiano logo designed by Solange Gularte). Yet, this is an intricate volume hinting at Vulpiano as the strong label. It veers from King Elizabeth-represented slowly evoking doom rock to Red Bellows´s psych/post-Britpop sound a la Campaq Velocet, from an vital electronic pop vision by J.G Hackett to a sultry introspection by Lately Kind of Yeah. Furthermore, you can perceive influences veering from pop psychedelia a la Boo Radleys and Blur to fuzz pop. Indeed, by its dominating alternative rock/and pop-inflected electronica-based approach it reminds of miscellanies compiled by NME in the second half of 90`s/first side of 00s.

Sharks! On Fire! - Air Combat (2010)

Bandcamp

8.6

/Pop punk, Happycore, Easycore, Alternative pop/rock/

Comment: I am not inclined to prefer pop punk/happycore/easycore musical groups in the mp3 player of mine. In true, this Vancouver, Canada-based quartet is a very pleasant exception in its acid-fried, over-the-shaft bent synth passages and enormous energy whiffs and washes. In a nutshell, for all the pop punk hipsters worldwide, direct their own spot upon Sharks! On Fire!, and Windsor-based label SmileCore Nation as well.

Abluonihil - Nova EP (2011)

Mahorka
Lastfm

8.9

/Abstract techno, Experimental, Noise, Experimental electronica, Glitch, Avant-garde/

Comment: Renzo Peressi from Venezuela delivers an innovative 4-track EP, named as Nova (entitling it simply and pretentiously). It is cosmic and nihilistic, noiseful and heart-warming having a stunning drift inbetween micro and macrosystems at the same time. It is seemingly primitivistic in its glitch/noise-based developments, on the other side, exploiting dream-filled minutiae in its very favor. It can be imagined as if it were produced by Autechre strongly affected by old school computer games.

Det Mekaniska Undret - Olika sidor av staden (2011)

23 Seconds

7.7

/Tram wave, Electronic pop, Synth pop, Conceptual, Electro pop, Camp pop/

Comment: This 10-track album by Andreas Österberg might be the first example of the kind to be tagged as "tram wave" ever. Indeed, the issue can be considered as the soundtrack and dedication to the tram line 11 in Gothenburg (all the songs are entitled as the references to those objects regarding this route). Musically it is simplified and even campy related to other "waves" as similar as Army Of Lovers used to have its approach towards pop electronica many years ago, for instance. All of that is played up with the help of blissful synths, simplistic beats and self-irony. My favorite track is the ending Saltholmen med Verklighetens Folk. By the way, all the songs are sung in Swedish.

girlhood - girlhood (2010)

CLLCT
Bandcamp

9.4

/Tracker music, Electro pop, Chiptune, Post-dance, Weird, Psychedelic dance, Shoegaze, DIY, Crossover, Glo-fi, Alternative dance, Bedroom pop, Experimental pop/

Comment: this 8-pieced album represents the best qualitative and even most unexpected sides of the music popping out from the CLLCT collective. Stylistically it comes forth as the kind of patchwork revealing a penchant for gentle, blissed-out electronica, jagged 8-bit/tracker rhythms, blindfold yet exalting electro pop (which does have acquired the best subleties of the contemporary disco music), and trash-coated shoegaze contemplation. All those kinds of styles and sounds and melody/and harmony hooks are masterfully balanced and collected to here what everybody needs apparently for to be in an ecstatic sense of innocent joy. Indeed, it is almost perfect in its imperfection.

Lucy Tentacles - Moon Egg

fljungbe - Slow and simple music performed on synthesizers (2009)

Jamendo

9.0

/Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, Conceptual, Electronic pop, Exerimental, Chill out/

Comment: this 6-pieced issue is dedicated to a handful of seminal German krautrockers/electronic/kosmische musicians (Ralf Hütter, Klaus Schulze; Edgar Fröse) and quite unsung Swedish experimentalist Ralf Lundsten. And to Moog and other analogue keyboards either. The listener can shift alongside with burbling, mid-tempo dominated synthetic rhythms and overdriving harmonic whiffs and washes, autotuned (robot-like) vocal appearances and lots of motives ringing a bell, however, all of that running along the more and less lopsided orbits of inner/outer space. On the other side, the album can be specified as an instance of chill out music strongly inspired by the ideology of Kosmische Musik. Indeed, it is time to set your dials backward to come over to a retrofuturistic era.

Hox Vox - It's the Loveliest Thing I've Ever Heard

Lizard Kisses - Please Stay (The Drifters Cover) (2011)

Bandcamp
Mediafire

9.7

/Cover, Alternative pop/rock, Glo-indie, Slowcore, Dream pop/

Comment: A heartbreaking cover by Lizard Kisses, the Brooklyn-based duo consisting of Marc Merza and Cory Siegler. Slowly moving sonic patterns on quiet fingerpicking is supported by Cory`s blissful, highly accentuated singing manner (reminiscent a bit of Memoryhouse`s Denise Nouvion`s one). I guess Burt Bacharach (indeed, the song was originally written by him) would like this version. By the way, the single is part of the cover album Tears On My Pillow: Part II.