Bigcolour - Centuries Of Summer (2010)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.1

/Glo-rock, DIY, Alternative, Experimental indie, New Weird America, Post-psychedelic electronica, Avant-pop/

Comment: behind Bigcolour hides himself Brian Brissart, an DIY musician from Chicago, Illinois, USA who provides a set of truly colourful, sonorous ditties with "lazy" yet very catchy harmonic hooks. His vocal is a formidable instrument running in the vein of the doo wop tradition, furthermore, showing up a close connection between it and nowadays glo-fi music (especially Nostalgic Ataraxy). However, the singing is backed up with billowy guitar treatments and clattery drum punches now and then. On the other side, the issue is comparable to the likes of Animal Collective, and Ganglians, thanks to its restraint, arranged (post-)psychedelic expells - Salte Ciclo is a mesmerizing endeavour coming out of the tradition of this US-based new wave/New Weird America movement.

Joxfield ProjeX - The Sacred Method

Alexander Wigger - Sold Out (2012)

Lastfm

9.3

/Alternative, Krautrock, Psychedelic rock, Acid folk, Motorik, Neofolk, Dark folk, Dark pop, Alternative rock/

Comment: Alexander Wigger is a 27-year-old musician from Luzern, Switzerland who has issued an array of albums during the last years. Sould Out, a 10-track release incorporates the elements of insatiable alternative (rock) fused densely with different styles and dodges. The side effects used to extend from motorik, krautrock-ish propulsions and the 60`s British acid folk-tinged looming (Helping Hand) to Lou Reed/Velvet Underground charged visions and more obscure, even ominous textures and baleful milieus. The ditties used to be mainly instrumental ones, though, at times Wigger used to sing his murky lyrics (for instance, at On Television) which takes on the uncompromisingness of dark folk/neofolk/pagan folk rather than more conventional structures. Undoubtedly it is very good and much more convincing than accidental shit you would able to find out from the top charts. In a word, the outlet is highly impressive and inviting to listen to it again and again. The next step it to listen to the rest of the albums by Alexander Wigger.

Various Artists – An 8bc Tribute to The Smiths (2009)

8Bit Collective
Mediafire

9.3

/8-bit, Covers, Indie, Experimental electronica, Tracker music, Conceptual, Chiptune/

Comment: indeed, seven songs of an indie juggernaut are covered by different chiptune/8-bit/tracker musicians. More detailly, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, How Soon Is Now?, A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours, Bigmouth Strikes Again, The Headmaster Ritual, This Charming Man, and of course, the quintessential indie anthem There Is A Light That Never Goes Out are represented there. It veers away from a rigid, even abstract version of How Soon Is Now? by Joseph and His Talons to Lynit`s aesthetically very lush version of The Headmaster Ritual (the favorite of mine), or betaclubfieldtrip`s blissed-out version of Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, or Matt Shogi`s chip-electro-dance version of This Charming Man. The versions of the rest of artists are more original-near, though very good, propulsive ones. However, the Mancunian legend will never be forgotten.

The J. Arthur Keenes Band - Computer Savvy (2011)

8bit peoples
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.5

/Experimental indie, Tracker music, Alternative, Chillwave, Dance rock, Crossover, Glo-fi, 8-bit, Chiptune, Avant-pop, Leftfield, Post-psychedelic electronica, Chip funk/

Comment: there are represented 7 joyful yet extraordinary ditties because the songs are half indie-inflected ones and half 8-bit/bitpop/chiptune appearances by Dan McLay from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Computer Savvy is his sophomore album, a follow-up to Pamplemousse (2009, Pause) His captivating vocal timbre - truly longing vocal manner (reminiscent a little bit of Panda Bear) is a resonating counterpoint to sawtooth-shaped beats and angular ridges and abrasive drones. There are a lot of places either being obviously influenced by the aesthetics of the chillwave/glo-fi movement. On the other side, Expelling Bee is an instance of funk grooves - arrghhh, actually I am lacking words to describe the blissfulness and suggestiveness present at the ending part of it. Cluck takes on electro/breakcore-driven dance rock gears. Once again, the whole is fabulous and idiosyncratic. In a word, McLay is a superman who should throne Billboard or something like that - to turn mediocre into good.

[Teaser of the day] Sicilian AV Project - Ibn Hamdis

Bartek Kawula - Glass (2011)

basic_sounds

9.3

/Dub-tech, Club dance, Dub house, Deep techno, Acid house/

Comment: there are up three dub-inflected appearances which are directed upon the listener`s ear and his/her extremities. It is a little angular by its roughly bouncing beats and acid house-tinged piano chords (of course, resembling of the beginning of 90`s) at Changes, yet, it will make sense at the end of the course. The other two notches are more churning and more relaxing including the samples of female voweling, cinematic bass bits, programmed drum clacks and so on. In a word, it used to be deep in dub somewhere in the middle of a club venue of someone`s brain. Altogether, it is a hypnotic and masterful notch by Bartek Kawula, a Toronto-based producer. The issue has been released on an excellent label, called basic_sounds.

The Specktators - EL Girls

Dimitar Dodovski - Fiction Makes Sense (2010)

Tropic
Bandcamp

9.2

/Dub-tech, Experimental electronica, Club dance, Dub-house/

Comment: DD originates from Macedonia providing a handful of lush tracks running on gritty dub landscapes and vibes with crackling hiss and undulating hum and lofty synth whiffs all of that is fused with the presence of club dance grooves and turns. Of course, all these elements are seamlessly and organically interlaced with each other thus constituting an organic whole. Ina word, it is a little smarter than an average club-oriented album used to be. It is IDM (intelligent dub music at the moment, though) thought for your soul and body.

fydhws - O (2012)

Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.0

/Dark ambient, Soundscapes, Avant-garde, Experimentalism, Minimal/

Comment: fydhws is an experimental artist from Macedonia who has been releasing qualitative sounds and exciting visions over time. However, this time he offers up 4 compositions which used to run in a quite rough way embellished with suggestive undulation of murky, even threatening tonality and more organic, found sound-based effects (the sound of water dripping, for instance) along and around it. All of that is based on the works of a treated guitar running on through the effect blocks and pitch plugins.The favorite of mine is the last track which has been managed to get into a more lush progression. In a word, this set showcases fydhws to slosh in his well proved goodness.