Zuhurbelea - Zeru ta Lurretako Mirakulugarri Ahoak, NO alcohol, alkolgabeko musika (2011)

Lastfm

8.9

/Avant-industrial, Post-punk, Cold wave, Avant-garde, Post-punk/

Comment: Zuhurbelea (wise crow, in Basque) is a project by Bertrand Escaffre, a French-based musician. The title of the album means approximately "through the miraculous voice of sky and earth", which is a cue to the fact that this 3-track EP is a modified example (and mainly the second version) of the Zeru ta Lur-alike style (Escaffre`s another project) - in a simplier and fluider way. By using a more specific language, however, this instrumental EP is filled in with cold-hearted paces and (and less cold) throbs, industrial-soaked hum and reverberations. By the author it is a try to continue Joy Division`s ultimate idea. In fact, he will not be wrong with this assumption, yet, on the other side, by its aesthetical frame it may share more traits with the early Cabaret Voltaire, Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle and other old school industrial acts.

Ermine Coat - Ermine Coat (2011)

Mediafire

9.4

/Anti-folk, Singer-songwriter, Noise rock, DIY, Experimental rock, Lo-fi, Garage rock, Rockabilly/

Comment: Ermine Coat is a Perth, Australia-based project (it is self-described as bedroom moron pop band). If you are keen on Wavves, Phil Reavis, Adrian Aardvark, Five Star Debauchery and other such kind of artists this 16-track is exactly thought for you. Garage-tinged rough folk and rockabilly is crossbreeded with acute psychedelia and now and then it is intertwined with witty electronic ruffles and face-hitting noise forays. However, the more I listen to it the better it gets. Probably the reason is hidden in a fact that harmonies and melodies are optimally balanced with vivid experiments. At the first glance it is simple but very impressive. Indeed, "moron" should be defined as frenetically good in this context.

Asian Women On The Telephone - Freedom as mama told me (2011)

Bandcamp
FMA

9.3

/Psych-rock, Krautrock, Experimental rock, Improvised music, Avant-rock, Experimentalism, Psychedelia, Avant-garde, Ritual music, Space rock/

Comment: at the first glance it might be the biggest failure related to this album is its long duration and diverse content. There are represented 12 tracks, some of them shutting down at the length of 17 minutes. Fortunately the album is lopsided in a way to get enough benefited from it. The notches are improvised, providing krautrock-esque progressions, either being more keen on kraut-funk grooves so characteristical to CAN since Soon Over Babaluma (1974), or more Faust-esque metronomic psych-feedback-based wall rock. On the other side, it does not deny a part of improvised free jazz-laden noise music, firstly reminiscent of Borbetomagus, the forefathers of this genre. The first track (the self-titled one) embarks on with the repetition of shamanic verses and drum parts. If to have a word about the kindred souls of AWOTT you can draw parallels upon artists such as Magical Unicellular Music, Acid Mothers Temple, Ester Poland, Joxfield ProjeX, Kospel Zeithorn. AWOTT (the line-up consists of Brown Polizei, Good Enough Freundin, Oriental Yid, Lewd Primat, Mutter Land) launched in Moscow in 2007 and known due to their frantic stage shows and no using overdubbing and mixing in the recording process. Great band by any means!

Cold Womb Descent - Plutonium Mine Shipyard Launch

Gazebo in a Lake - Hydra (2011)

Future Passed Free Music

8.6

/DIY, Primitive music, Electronic pop, Glo-fi, Weird pop, Electro, Lo-fi/

Comment: I tried to find out some info about Gazebo in a Lake but figured out he has hidden himself jelaously. Only a handful of albums are uploaded at Lastfm and upon it is added the sentence that Gazebo in a Lake is exactly where he will end up living if he quits his day job. By listening to this 9-track publication I got aware of ideas and patterns about the approach of him. In the first place, he creates a sort of primitive music using low-end techniques (for instance, you can detect the rhythms of a tiny Casio Tonebank), conjuring up clumsy beats and bits and at times blunt manner of singing. Yet, these aforementioned lines must not be misunderstood because his concept delineates the principle that less is more. For example, listen to the track The Retainer which fuses rough DIY tendencies with hypnagogic glimpses and shimmering electro surfaces. Or House of Plenty, a long-running opus filled with pop potential. Why it is sympathetic? It can be seen as opposed to the sort of sterile, hermetic and hence unsurprising (restricted) studio-based production displaying other modalities for recording either.

Mogadiscio Ensemble - Super Bone Bionde (2011)

Paragrafo

8.8

/Techno, Experimental techno, Industrial techno, Noise, Avant-electronica/

Comment: Mogadiscio Ensemble is a collective from Italy formed by Riccardo Nava (synths and noise effects in My Silver Booster and § as solo), and Riccardo Canta (keyboards and sax in Il Cubo di Rubik Monocromo, and Gonzo Caravan). They issued the debut issue Afro Affairs under the Karuso label in 2010. However, the duo`s brand new heavy comprises a pair of tracks which are imbued with defaced chopped-up breaks, dirty reversed loops, and gloomy layers above it. Noise-infiltrated compositions. All in all, the release is hirsute and bouncing, it is a sort of techno music, yet, thought for night clubs and chill out venues. Instead of it you can hark back to the traces of machines and the brothers Russolo`s legacy on it.

Ixtlan - Very Easy Is Wrong

East of Borneo - Larkspur Sessions (2011)

IYNGES
FMA
Lastfm

8.8

/Improvised music, Krautrock, Avant-industrial, Crossover, World music/

Comment: Lyn Goeringer (Theremin controlled synthesis), Michael DeQuattro (percussion and electronics), and Jim Moses (guitar and bass with electronics) do convey a 7-track set of improvised developments made up of some world music chips putting upon the realms of metal-coated industrial music and krautrock-ish propulsions. Furthermore, there is a very little to do with the music and genres coming out of the island Borneo/Kalimantan. Sometimes the trio`s co-operation does bear away over to more haunting results due to theremin, allegedly the first electronic instrument. Intriguing and intricate indeed.

New Animal - Still In Mind (2011)

Bandcamp

8.8

/Post-psychedelic electronica, Experimental indie, Lo-fi, Avant-pop, Alternative,DIY, Weird pop/

Comment: New Animal, an experimental indie duo (Kris Hermstad; Derek Burdette) from Atlanta, Georgia, USA issued the enthralling self-titled debut album at the beginning of 2011 mixing up NWA, post-psychedelic electronica, and indie pop. Upon it they released a 4-track EP, entitled Up!. There is a pair of new songs which does have focus upon more effect-laden rather than a more quotidian verse-centered one. Indeed, these blinking arrangements are imbued with "errors" trying to provoke and wake up the listener. The shape of the songs used to swell and decrease being embellished with blunt electronic effects, disjunctions and repetitive clicking noises above and below it. Mostly below it.

Shirubi Ikazuchi - Warsoul (2011)

Shirubi Ikazuchi
Lastfm

8.6

/Electronic pop, Pomp pop, Trip-hop, Downtempo, Alternative, Alternative dance/

Comment: Shirubi Ikazuchi is just one chapter in a long array of the Estonian female musicians surfaced during the last years. Maria Minerva, Possimiste, Spice Mouse, Queennaive are some innovative names who used to fuse murky/dreamy electronica, DIY-aesthetics, and arty psychedelia. Here are represented 10 tracks running in the vein of slightly dark-hued pop comprised mainly trip-hop/downtempo-induced paces and dramatically accentuated chords and layers, however, Shirubi`s resounding voice powerfully gliding above it. At times it reminds of Army Of Lovers, at times Bjork, at times Catherine Corelli. Indeed, it is bombastic and pretentious searching for to release its huge potentiality. For instance, Seizure is exactly such kind of notch very ready to poison the Eurovision Song Contest (the annual festival for wasting the money of the European tax-payers). By the way, the coverprint is intiguing because of resembling a little bit of Brett Anderson, the frontman of Suede.