Tree, Bosier - Hometown EP (2011)

Subwise

8.9

/Nu jazz, Chilltronica, Trip-hop, Downtempo, Psychedelic, Mood music, Post-rock, Downbeat, Cinematic, Crossover, Dub/

Comment: this is a picturesque output consisting mainly of sunshine-filled chill out-ish electronica, trip-hop drops, dub vibrations, and cinematic (nu-) jazz and at times deep, longing motifs. By the way, before it this Russian-based artist had released an album, called as Motion Picture Soundtrack (2010, Mimonot). However, the second track Seconds Before Awakening (feat. Futuredub) displays even the grits of post-rock-visaged guitar waves and oriental flute whiffs.

Ulf Staflund - Sanctuary

Little Jungles - Wuts Goin Thru Yer Head (2011)

Bandcamp

9.3

/Bedroom pop, Chillwave, Glo-fi, Shoegazetronica, Poptronica, Psychedelic pop, Tropical pop, Experimental indie, Lo-fi/

Comment: before you are going to chart the best albums of 2011 I recommend to listen to this 9-track one. Little Jungles comes from Canada offering up a lofty merge of glo-fi/chillwave pop and more traditional indie pop/shoegazing/psychedelia/indie dance. More concretely, all the excellence is made up with the help of chiming vocals, fuzzy guitars, sun-drenched keys, and dance-appealed rhythms. Here you can meet a bunch of eargasmic numbers. For instance, let`s take 1000 Cigarettes, which is a heartbreaking vision of bedroom pop ballad, or Winter Was Warmer, a folkgaze-ish ditty, where MBV meets Belle & Sebastian in its own way. Beside the abovementioned names you can see the traces by Silver Apples, Animal Collective, The Papertiger Sound, and Eureka Brown either.

Sarwari - Transit (2011)

Bakery Allstars inc

9.2

/Alt-folk, Electro pop, Experimental indie, Singer-songwriter, Crossover/

Comment: crunchy electro meets calm folk meets lush, saccharine underground-influenced singer-songwriter-ism a la Lee Hazlewood. Enthralling harmonica solos and half-orchestrated bits are set above a galvanized hotchpot. These 3 tracks used to ooze elegance and have touch with a big initial letter. A truly idiosyncratic one indeed.

SLZR - Demon Lain (2011)

Estàndar
Indian Gold
Free Music Archive
Mediafire

9.3

/Avant-rock, Experimental rock, Psych-rock, Psychedelia, Dance rock, Electro rock, Krautrock/

Comment: heck, noisy yet propulsive psychedelia runs through the hirsute tunnels and around the hispid corners of electro rock. The trialogue between tempered guitars, motorik drums and acidic synths do make impact on the listener. Moreover, it is loaded with a shitloads of shooting sonic effects and obsessive repetition in the meantime. By the way, no surprising, this set of 3 tracks is an instance of instrumental rock. However, there can be detected for the influences of Silver Apples, Acid Mother Temple, and Clinic. And of course, such freneticsoundscape can only be inherited from Mexico (or otherwise from Japan).

The Otot Zafrol Duo! - Little Blue Car

Ears - Sea Legs (2011)

*export
lastfm

8.8

/Sound collage, Lounge pop, Easy listening, Chill out, Sampledelic, Mood music, Cut and paste/

Comment: behind Ears hides himself the Aussie Daniel O`Toole who conveys an array of 14 tracks wherein gurgitating synth bits and slow tempo-induced beats function to create an effortless whole. Of course, you can not forgot about cinematic jazz and lounge-charged whiffs running above and around it. This is music/muzak for everyone to pump up your mind with serotonine.

Last Romantic - Find Your Machine (2009)

Burnthenation
Love Torture
Lastfm

9.0

/Post-metal, Shoegaze, Trip-hop, Big beat, Alternative rock, Crossover, Experimental rock/

Comment: this is an example of nowadays enthralling guitar-based embodiment which consists of monumental guitars, galvanic riffs and its furry overdrives, and heavily stomping rhythm patterns. Behind the project is Dan Stone, a musician from the Foggy Albion who soon changed the project`s name (he is known as Masske now). It extends over the realms of shoegaze, and (post-)metal, and on the other side it veers away the influences of trip-hop, and big-beat at the lowest level. In conclusion, while Stone at times calms down the most of the time the concept is filled in with a huge amount of energy and electricity thus offering up an outstanding experience.

Azwarm - A Morning ´s Work (2010)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.3

/Dark ambient, Minimalism, Soundscape, Dystopbient, Drone, Ambient drone, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Post-industrial/

Comment: Azwarm used to be one of those countless projects by J.C Thorne, a wonderman from Seattle who has been involved in music for many decades. Here are represented two very long tracks (both of them do have the length for a little more than 22 minutes). Indeed, it is a testimony about the hybridization of experimental music made up with the carcasses and touch of minimalism, drone, and (dark) ambient. More concretely, the album does have the glacial glimmer around its axis which allows for the light to penetrate into its core at times. An elusive effort indeed.

Vernon LeNoir - Another Glass Of Melonade