Omara - Schubfaktor

Dreamphish - Garlic Icecream (1997)

Bandcamp

10.0

/Experimental indie, Art pop, Dream pop, Alternative pop, Indie pop, Art punk, Shoegaze, Post-rock/

Comment: Dreamphish was one of the foremost Estonian indie pop/rock bands with Dallas, Bizarre, and Borax in the second half of the 90`s. Their debut album Garlic Icecream (released on the cassette format only) rings out even today in an idiosyncratical and vanguard-ish way. While the quintet`s irresistible compositions are based on conventional yet majestic song structures it is spliced up with more uncompromising progressions - trip-hop-relied shadows, naughty punk rock, lofty shoegaze forays, and darkly gleaming post-rock-ish outer space. You can perceive the connections with Pulp, Stereolab, Portishead, Sonic Youth... . Most of the time the 10-track album induces to be longing and looking so hopefully for the future. Indeed, it is a glorious chapter of the Estonian innovative pop/rock. Inspite of missing nostalgically for those old good times, however, the album chimes perfectly on its own. I recommend listen to their follow-up It Is I (2000) either.

Morbo y Mambo - Das Papier EP (2011)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Improvised music, Cool jazz, Fusion, Crossover, Psychedelic, Free jazz/

Comment: no doubt, this is a lush, spatial improvisation set by a sextet from Argentina. Cool jazz-approved trumpets, acid-fried stumbling synths, rattling drums function to take on frenzied grooves and psychedelic washes everywhere. Indeed, it is pleasantly perverted by language.

The Grey Field Project Names - Without Meanings (2011)

Mediafire
Lastfm

9.3

/Ambient, Avant-rock, Epic, Minimal, Soundscapes, Post-rock, Crossover, Ambient noise, Dark ambient, Experimental rock/

Comment: behind these ten exhilarating ambient rock explorations is Adam Kalamàr, a young musician from Tapolca, Hungary. Before starting to create such amazing sound he played in punk (The Extrended Crackers) and screamo/grindcore combo Who Told You This Room Exists. It is an epic and majestic one where clear-cut visions are tensely mixed up with unidentified hiss-buzz and murmuring noise and hazy droning and concrete sound-infiltrated developments. At times it turns out to be essentially abstract (9).

Brad Sucks - Look and Feel Years Younger

Laura K - ePop018 (2011)

Eardrums Pop
Lastfm

9.5

/Twee pop, Indie pop, Cover, Baroque pop, Experimental indie, Sunshine pop/

Comment: Eardrums Pop is back after a while with an amazing miscellany of 3 songs by Brisbane, Australia-born indie gal who has played in such groups as Little Scout, and Roman History. This case takes on amusingly strumming ukuleles, striking vocal harmonies, and chiming synths, thus constituting the organic whole. One of those songs is a cover version of Real Estate`s Beach Comber. By the way, Jarvis Cocker likes her music. Lucky you.

Videodreams - The World (2010)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Alternative pop/rock, Soft rock, Indie pop/

Comment: a nice set of 6 songs from Italy. More concretely, dreamy, a little bit lethargic vocal supply is supported by chiming guitars, colourful glockenspiel undercurrents and acidious synth fringes. The songs are masterfully spirited and soulful. All of that might remind of Coldplay, and Keane. In fact, the quartet do it even better.

The Womb - Escapism (2011)

23 Seconds

The Womb
Lastfm

9.2

/Synth noir, Hip-hop, Experimental indie, Art pop, Crossover, Electronic pop, Dark pop, Angst pop, Ambient pop/

Comment: Alan Driscoll, one of the most intricate singer-songwriters today is back with his brand new heavy. He is known by his idiosyncratic dark-hued vocal manner which is sticked somehow with (white) hip-hop mannerism (extraordinarily in the closure track The Narrator). By speaking about his(?)/someone(?)/anyone`s (?) paranoias and obsessions, he uses lo-fi synthetic sound only to give rhythm and soul for the issue. In fact, Driscoll has added some new elements - for example, Strobelites does function as a hell-ish blend of downtempo and deep ambient. Especially monumental is We Swam Through The Sky, an amazing angst-filled vista. Really horrifying indeed. One of the best tracks in 2011 so far. Of course, while you can feel some difference between Escapism and a masterpiece, called Purity Test (also issued on 23 Seconds, 2011), his last issue is outstanding for sure. You can compare Driscoll (living in Melbourne, Australia now) with another British world traveler and free thinker, called Momus.

Juan Gamiz - Organo de Zadar (2008)

Thrmnphone

9.0

/Electro-acoustics, Musique concrète, Organic electronica, Acousmatics, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Minimalism/

Comment: such music can be called as "organic growing" where roughly looping electro-acoustic music is crossed with concrete sounds/street noise. The reason why it seems to be so cogent and relaxing is quite simple - all of that is reduced to the algorithms of minimal music. The environments around the lonely looping gear are incessantly in change thus constituting the sense of permanent became. All in all, let`s celebrate this moment.

Computer Magic - The End of Time