Apache O'Raspi - Not Phony (2011)

Bandcamp

9.4

/Alt-folk, Folk indie, Dream folk, Singer-songwriter, Free folk, New Weird Mexico, Lo-fi, Experimental folk, DIY, Baroque pop, Electronic, Indie folk, Psych-folk/

Comment: Apache O`Raspi comes out from Mexico providing a fascinating set of idiosyncratic pop songs. There can be detected for a pair dominating lines of influences - first of all, it is instrospective, dream-filled, psychedelic folk and local Latin appearances with die-hard lo-fi/DIY touch and on the other side the album cannot be without making the hints at tropicalia pop/rock a la Os Mutantes and so-called saccharine underground/baroque pop a la Lee Hazlewood. There is one exception either - Frantic Dance takes on more tight flirtation with lustful electronic trickery. The album is sung in English, and Spain respectively. By the way, these 9 tracks are mixed by Benjamin Z, aka Volumina, another awesome folktronic musician from Mexico. In conclusion, you can grab lots of truly elusive harmonies and melodies from out of here (Cereal Mermelada; Junto a ti; Come Up Again; Little Lady). Great!

Impaled Peach - Impaled Beach (2011)

Quixodelic
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.2

/Folk indie, Alt-folk, Singer-songwriter, Indie folk, Experimental folk/

Comment: reportedly Impaled Peach was inspired by visiting the dentist. Is it true or not, however, the fact is that Edward Alan Bartholomew has issued approximately a dozen of albums on CLLCT and Daydream Generation/Quixodelic records to date. Furthermore, he is an unsung musician who deserves much more acclaim for sure. For example, let`s listen to this, 17-piece album. This can be considered a sort of folk release, yet, being quite far from functioning and running alongside the usual frontiers of folk music. More profoundly, by its approach it is minimal guitar-driven folk (or folk indie), yet, below the stringed layers can be heard shitloads of electronically treated and buzzing noise effects. As the whole , however, it used to amplify the listener`s emotions up to. If you are intended for searching of Bartholomew`s kindred souls, you could recognize Wilco`s impact on it. At any rate, Impaled Peach is an outstanding album.

Iqtu - Embarrasing Triangle (2008)

iimusic
Bandcamp
Lastfm

8.7

/Electronic pop, Experimental electronica, IDM, Glo-fi, Mood music/

Comment: these 13 tracks take on warm, IDM-tinged electronica and electronic pop respectively. It is instrumental and mostly mid-tempo. Such sort of simple and unpretentious explorations used to have impact on you while running on it the background and step by step raising your spirit. Now and then it disjoints from its usual core, offering up more blissed-out progressions. For instance, the self-titled track. That`s very great. Iqtu is James Zdrowski, a producer from Boulder, Colorado, who had been active in the second half of 00`s. He is also known as Ontagon.

Taiunta - Odiuibo

Glass Candy - Love Love Love (2002)

Free Music Archive
Troubleman Unlimited
Lastfm

8.7

/Post-punk, Dance rock, Electro-rock, No Wave, Alternative pop/rock/

Comment: this was Glass Candy`s debut issue firstly released on Troubleman Unlimited in 2001. The duo being line-upped by Ida No, and Johnny Jewel (and Ginger Peach then either) offered up angular, no wave-ish post-punk guitars churned with slight dance vibes and jarred, pissed-off voices. All of that happened at a time when a new wave of punk rock made its revival. Anyway, some people consider it to be the best album by Glass Candy to date. Indeed, you are getting to love it.

Big City Orchestra - Submission Trax (2005)

Betasound

9.2

/Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Psych-folk, Weird pop, Poptronica, Experimental electronica, Sound-art, Acousmatics/

Comment: BCO has is a legendary avant-garde/art project from Los Angeles, California which embarked on in 1979. They have publicated about 130 hour-long releases and being an important chain in the cassette culture movement of the previous decades. They jumped out from the same nest as did other famous Californian cutting edge groups such as The Residents, and Negativeland, for instance. Their music has swerved in countless directions, veering from sound art and dada experiments and psycho-acoustic explorations to off-kilter electronica and sophisticated noise and acousmatic "folk" music. This set of handful of tracks (trax) consists of affected vowel experiments and electro-(acoustic) folk a la CocoRosie, loop-dominated deranged ambient music, and bristled conditional psych-folk music.

Randomajestiq - Evidence Of Utopia (2002)

Subsource
Subsource
Lastfm

9.0

/Deep techno, Ambient dub, Ambient techno, Experimental electronica, IDM, Dub-tech/

Comment: Vladimir Hropov (born 1976) aka Randomajestiq is a producer from Gomel who used to be one of the most eminent electronic musicians from Belarus today (with Buben, and Alexander Martovsky). Just 2 tracks, though, very long ones (both of them more than 20 minutes) both of which are divided into small chapters. More detailly, ethereal dub waves are fringed with spaced-out techno rhythms and subtle IDM vibes. On the other side, there can be detected for some New Age-ish influences. In fact, the second part of the album rings out as if The Orb were mixed up with the last named elements.

High Park - Keys To My...

Esplim - Re-EP (2009)

Sinewave

7.6

/Post-rock, Experimental rock, Epic, Spoken word, Electronic, Trip-hop/

Comment: Esplim (Romulo Michaelsen) offers up a bunch of post-rock-related tracks - first of all, it functions to have drive and accents on overdriving, resonating guitar paths which are variegated with silentful, electronic, trip-hop-drenched beats. Elsewhere it incorporates spoken word snippets and even baby`s babble. The only problem is that it used to flake out in the ending part, having no clear-cut intention and expressive shape.

Skeksis - Vol.12: Spirits of Summer II (2011)

Skeksis

8.8

/Alternative pop/rock, Indie, Compilation, Jangle pop, Dark pop, Singer-songwriter, Alt-folk, Ambient/

Comment: at the first sight it seems to be a somewhat peculiar compilation which veers out from discrete piano pop and borderless ambient pop to the ditties of indie and jangle pop made up with more joyful energy. On the other side, the joint compartment of those 10 tracks is brought forth in dark-hued undercurrents. Jim Guittard, Orange Crush, Ben Woods, I Said Yes and others are related to the one.