Juj - Slack (2010)

Wedidit
Lastfm

9.2

/Sampledelic, Cut and paste, Sound collage, Plunderphonics, Urban sound, Trip-hop, Hip-hop, Soul/

Comment: Juj comes from Santa Cruz, California, having produced a sublime 16-track album where hip-hop meets trip-hop which onwards meets cinematic soul and...sunshine. Actually there is left no hollow sense inbetween those mainly short-running notches, all the possible slots are covered with cozy sampledelic outreaches and synergical sampling techniques. His oeuvre can be compared to the likes of Rimar, Ears, Phaseone, kIRk, and htrspltn. Additionally to these names Juj is having a handful of label mates at Wedidit Collective either.

The Vitrines - Utopian Lapses (2010)

Slow Studies

9.0

/Dystopbient, Noise, Dark ambient, Lo-fi, Ambient noise, Experimentalism, Soundscapes, Avant-garde, Hauntology, Sound-art/

Comment: in fact, all the sound seems to be running and running in the compartments of dystopian and utopian fantasies whereby all the basic aspects and minutiae are deliberately positioned to stay very far from the imaginable subjects and all the ambience above it is filled in with somehow billowy, restraint horror. The 8-track album embarks on with the abrasive bits of noise progressions which throughout the course will be a little bit toned down thus being channelized into more ambient-esque approach (on the other side, having the sound of essentially rough and provocative because of being decorated with any kind of sonic trash and thus providing the withstood to the usual understanding of ambient music). All in all, it might be perceived as an imperfect one in the beginning, yet thanks to it the issue does demonstrate its hitting power.

Beko DSL - Crashsymbols (2011)

Beko DSL

9.0

/Synthwave, Post-punk, Dark pop, Art pop, Shoegaze, Experimental indie, Dreamwave/

Comment: a sequent glittering miscellany by the French label Beko DSL. These 13 tracks used to veer from rigid post-punk and synthwave to shoegaze and lush dreamwave. Here are represented the likes of Hobbledeions, Abstract Cannon, Bonifrate, Rimar, Kumon Plaza, Sumsun, Antn Hrkwk, Noah Wall, Two Bicycles, Bong Rodent, Shuriken, Phil and the Osophers, Monster Rally, Daniel Sex Jr., Moon Bounce, Pregnant, Honeydrum, and Flamingod. Indeed, the compilation might make your day.

Matt Stevens - Intermission

Green Like July – Two cover songs by Green Like July (2011)

Bad Panda

8.8

/Cover, Alt-country, Southern rock/

Comment: just 2 cover songs are uploaded there. Crippled Inside (John Lennon), and September Gurls (Big Star). The last of these notches is the big preference of mine. While the trio comes from Italy their ideological standpoint seems to be closely related to the US-based root and southern pop/rock. In conclusion, slightly psychedelic organ-afforded country songs make huge impression on the listener.

Valery & The Greedies - Where's Satan? (2011)

Clinical Archives

9.8

/Punk funk, Post-punk, Alternative dance, Dance rock, Art rock, Disco, Alternative, Experimental rock/

Comment: punksters have always loved to dance and abandon their bodies to grooves. All of that embarked on once at Hacienda headed by such groups as Joy Division, Section 25, A Certain Ratio. On the other side, at the same time in the USA were some groups living up to the melomans` expectations, for instance, James Chance & Contortions, and ESG. However, the Petrozavodsk/Petroskoi, Russia-based quartet Valery & The Greedies revivifies and revamps this glorious dance rock/dance punk tradition, making it out in a very eminent way. Indeed, Where`s Satan? is one of the best groove rock albums I have listened throughout the 00`s and 10´s. And you are used to think that the Klaxons is a good one... .

Christian Galarreta - Computer Music Is Dead (2011)

Free Software Series

9.0

/Noise, Drone, Experimental electronica, Avant-electronica, Drone noise, Microtonal, Sound-art, Electro-acoustic/

Comment: this is a 2-track album by a Peruvian laptop musician who provokes and reconstructs the very core of electronic (computer) music. Or at least our imagination of it. Incessantly buzzing drones, static yet tense electricity and a shitloads of phase changes, drilling noiseful ghosts are represented here as if gigantic butterflies striking with their wings above the maelstrom of bits and bites. In fact, it almost rings out like an instance of noise symphony chalking out a picture of the cemetery of dead computers. Of computers within the sound is ceased to chime.

awaycaboose - Glencarse Jam

Rob Bridgett - Arkhives (2008)

Rack & Ruin

9.3

/IDM, Experimental electronica, Dubstep, Ambient, Jungle, Experimental, Breakbeat, Epic, Ambient dub/

Comment: behind this project is Rob Bridgett, a Canadian based composer and sound director. Here are represented 13 diverse tracks veering from lofty ambient dub and epic dark-hued steps to intellectual dance music to rattling, thudding breakbeats to bewitching jungle maze. On the other side, Black Lodge sounds like drone/weird folk-alike appearance. Such sort of music does have as similar relation to the rhythms of club dance as post-rock-ish energy used to have a spot upon the adult oriented rock music. This issue belongs to such sort of releases yet waiting its time to be glorified decorously in the future.

Les Enfants Sales - V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (2011)

Zorch Factory
Lastfm
Madame B

9.6

/Art punk, No wave, Avant-garde, Dark wave, Apocalyptic folk, Neofolk, Post-punk, Noir, Experimental rock, Noise rock, Gothic punk, Crossover/

Comment: Les Enfants Sales is anything but ordinary. The French band consists of Chris Zèro, and Madame B, the latter of them has been very profilic in her doings, who, by any means, could be compared with such outstanding vanguard-ish (female) punkers as Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Lydia Lunch, and Linder. This 10-track album showcases a brooding art punk/no wave/gothic punk/cutting edge post-punk approach, yet on the other side having murky flirtations with apocalyptic folk/dark wave-esque muses. More detailly, those slowed-down incantations are craftily varied with noisy mayhems, in the midst of it Madame B used to intone or even groan her wraithful manifestations. Furthermore, the closure track Exi ab eo is a martial anthem centered around Zèro`s angst-filled shouting, Madame B`s reverberations, all of that assisted by medieval flute whiffs and ghastly sounding theremin. A superb issue indeed. This is our punk rock for sure.