Recent Music Heroes

Comment: by listening to this 10-track issue you could discern it is produced by a talented but young musician. The main proof is that the Israeli producer Ziv Shachar used to run between different styles – from electronic pop to indie-influenced electronic music to Ivrit-sung piano driven pop songs to some funny interludes to enchanting post-dubstep threads. Indeed, the last stylistic element is the one, which used to appear in the most prominent manner within the whole. In truth, the style is also the major preference on it, providing enough conspicuously remarkable moments where he demonstrates his expert songwriting abilities and being adept in surfacing mind-provoking sounds. All in all, I recommend follow the artist`s next steps very carefully because the recent issue is one of the best issues in 2016. If it would have been written by a more well-known artist it were praised all around the world. You can be sure about it – just listen to it.

Sam Golden Sings – Watch Out For The Quiet Ones (2008)

Rack And Ruin

Lo-fi
Acoustic pop
Singer-songwriter
DIY

Comment: this is a simplistic yet catchy album of 6 pieces just based on the twangs of acoustic guitar, a few storytelling lines, some melodica whiffs and subtle stereo effects. And the singing with a catchy impetus is placed in the front page. For sure, it fits properly in to the lo-fi aesthetic of Rack And Ruin Records because it is played with great enthusiasm believing in a better future where one could perceive the thrill within it. The issue was produced in a time when all seemed to be possible. More profoundly, the DIY scene had appeared through blogs and independent music sites to get thousands of followers in the end of the 00s. That`s all. The simple things make highly sense on it.

6/14/2016

[Teaser of the day] Mauro Donati - Ratticidio

Ephedrina

Minimal techno
Deep techno

Artist: Mauro Donati

Release: Response EP

Label: Ephedrina/Jamendo/Bandcamp

Year: 2015

Brideburger – A Beautiful Mind (2011)

Amnion

Shoegaze
Post-rock
Avant-rock
Guitar ambient
Epic
Soundscapes
Experimental rock
Noise
Minimalism

Comment: the UK-based Matt Catling aka Brideburger`s handful of tracks plays with the consciousness of listener both through volume loudness and an exquisite aesthetic standing on an interface of noise, shoegaze, post-rock, and guitar-based ambient. And of course, it shows how patient is your neighbour actually if you play it through the loudspeakers. Mostly it is quite silenced, however, you have to be warned, before the start of A Beautiful Mind 2, where the sound is strongly cranked up. Otherwise Brideburger`s aesthetic is quite silenced though the sound is intense and even glowering by its nature. By kindred souls there can be drawn parallels upon the likes of My Bloody Valentine, fydhws, Glenn Branca and A Beautiful Machine. Eventually it could be said it is a fascinating issue because it changes and ennobles your state of mind. This issue is a notch in the catalogue of Amnion Records.

6/13/2016

[Teaser of the day] Manifold - Voinamirov

Ektoplazm

Psytrance
Alternative
Tekno
Electronic music
Psyelectro

Artist: Manifold

Release: Digital Sun

Label: Ektoplazm/Mystic Sound

Year: 2016

Dead Black Arms – Slow Burning Ocean (2010)

Drowning

Drone doom metal
Doom metal
Post-metal
Experimental metal
Minimalism
Avant-metal

Comment: this issue consists of one, long-running composition, which slightly embarks on from nothing, then stepwise evolves being cranked up in volume and added up with slamming drumming and distorted, warped hi-hats. Indeed, the result is craftily composed therefore it might be considered a mystified issue. However, it is feint. With regard to the title of the track it reminds me of horrendous sea catastrophes being caused by the human race and oil tankers. For example, the one what happened in the Gulf of Mexico 6 years ago. Because of this it is not fun at all. Fuck off, those droning doom chords resemble hundreds of thousands dying sea birds and fishes and mammals who are killed by the human being's brain as allegedly the most sophisticated object all around the Universe. The bad thing is this is just a little part of all the atrocities perpetrated by us against nature. No respect, no humbleness, just arrogance and exaggerated self-confidence mixed up with stupidity. It is both against the own species and other species as well. Just watch daily TV events to get proof against. All is being set up in flames directly and indirectly. There is no future. The only positive thing in relation to the human race is to create art in different appearances, which provides hope and some salvation. These 32 minutes created by Danish Claus Haxholm over there are thought for it. This is a great issue under the experimental metal imprint Drowning.

6/12/2016

[Teaser of the day] Lemur - Widmannstätten

Enoughrecords

Post-rock
Experimental rock
Art rock
Motorik
Acid rock
Stoner rock
Psychedelic rock
Epic
Krautrock

Artist: Lemur

Release: Lemur

Label: Enoughrecords/FMA

Year: 2013

banvox & Nor – Flux (2015)

Maltine

Post-dubstep
Breaks
Anime
Electronic dance music
Electro
Alternative

Comment: this is another issue by Maltine Records from Japan and there are up tracks Resonance, and Flux, by such popular artists as banvox, and Nor (with regard to Soundcloud). Their sound is influenced by electronic dance music, post-dubstep, and electro. Those rhythmic parts are at times intertwined with moody, high-pitched electronic hovers, at times those rhythmic parts do demonstrate proclivity to change seriously and go across a hell-ish path. More profoundly, massive synthesizer squelches and intense electronic vibes are mixed up with bold rhythmic chords in the way to make sense and attract one’s attention. With regard to their Japanese background one could perceive child-ish, Anime pop-related elements with these pieces. Conclusively it could be said the pieces involve enough vivid contrasts to remember them and dash to dig up new issues under Maltine Records. Catchy-patchy.

6/10/2016

[Teaser of the day] Entertainment for the Braindead - The Air

Dream folk
Indie folk
Post-folk
Singer-songwriter
New Weird Germany
Art folk
Folk indie

Artist: Entertainment for the Braindead

Release: Postcard #7: Songs from the Dust

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2013

LLLL – Cruel (2015)

Maltine

J-pop
Electronic pop
Alternative dance
Hip-hop
Breakcore
Alternative pop
Chillwave
Breakbeat
Electro pop

Comment: firstly, behind this seemingly very arbitrary, nonchalant artist name is hidden a span of 22 minutes of good and very good music, which in turn is classified as “cruel”. The only thing, which is truly cruel on it this is the frequency, which is set to change chords and rhythms incessantly and in a fast manner. The adjacent effect of it is to merge different styles with each other. At times quite disparate styles are juxtaposed against each other – dream pop, chillwave, indietronica meet breakbeat-ish and electro pop vibes. The artist exploits J-pop templates moderately not using them in an exaggerated, banal way. That`s the wisdom of an artist. I would call it “Hi-NRG” music but because the style is brought down by some European artists I am not going to do it. By listening to this handful of compositions there one should not wonder about the popularity of netlabel scene in Japan (as in one article at Pitchfork was written about it – thank you, the staff of Pitchfork but we need more reviews and articles about the topic worldwide because it involves a huge part of indie music nowadays). At times it is English, at times in Japanese. The album features the likes of Yeule, and fraqsea. At excellent Spider Web there are up such urban juggernauts as 50Cent, and 2 Pac being added to the mix to create a new feeling in the context of the issue. Given that it is an example of contemporary, catchy (electronic) pop music I do definitely say “yes”, “very ok”, “great”, “thumbs up”, “it makes my filthy soul to fly”. The audible side is as sexy as the cover print of the outing. The issue is a part of the discography of Maltine Records.

[Teaser of the day] Shambles - Létající Čestmír Part II

Sound art
Sound collage
Experimentalism
Avant-garde
Conceptual
Acousmatic music
Plunderphonics
Lobit
Freeformfreakout
Non-music
Post-industrial

Artist: Shambles

Release: Replay

Label: CS Industrial 1982-2010

Year: 2015

nccptr – Antipodes (2013)

Drowning

Post-metal
Drone metal
Doom metal
Drone doom metal
Avant-metal
Post-rock
Electronic music
Epic
Experimental metal

Comment: nccptr is an one-man-project with former metal music background from Portugal whose 27-minute opus is an instance of slowly droning metal and daringly loping post-rock interludes with unexpected interruptions and “errors”. By listening to it for the first time I checked out my music player to except erroneous bugs within it. However, this is still a case of faith. Given that I believe that the music playing system is ok and all is related to the album. Those “errors” are downrightly electronic and incisively sharp thereby remembering those that come from the tracker music scene and digital hardcore landscape. The purpose of the artist is to investigate disquietude and hopelessness with higher level of abstraction. Despite those tickling overthrows one could experience ennobling guitar progressions in a span of a couple of minutes, between the 19th and 21st minute, which is followed up by the climax of the final part through warped noises, crippled electronics and stereo effects and a powerful guitar noise outburst. At times one could perceive synaesthetic sensations as if listening to an colourful picture. All in all, the result is overwhelming and making highly sense. The issue is a part of the discography of Danny Kreutzfeldt-led imprint Drowning.

6/09/2016

[Teaser of the day] Mercury & The Architects - Poets And The Beast

Jamendo

Urban music
Hip-hop
Rap
Soul
Gangsta rap

Artist: Mercury & The Architects

Release: Poets And The Beast E.P

Label: Jamendo

Year: 2016

Backyard – The Backyard EP (2013)

Mindblasting

Archive.org

DIY
New Weird Indonesia
Free folk
Indie folk
Lo-fi
Drone folk
Folk indie
Weird folk
Art folk

Comment: First of all, I am wondering about the discrepancy between the heard gentle sonic progressions and the size of the Indonesian combo Backyard, which consists of five members who play different instruments. Otherwise I would have thought of it as an one-man project. The combo’s 4-notch issue chimes truly enchantingly at its cute interface of lo-fi, melodica-driven droning, and folk-ish evolvements. Additionally to those dropping glockenspiel chords and guitar keys and the aforementioned drones one could enjoy the singer’s singing in English being coated with the strong accent of one of those native languages. At times he is being accompanied by a female coo. That`s charming. Charming naivety. Just cast a glance at the cover print. One could readily imagine a group of people sitting a back of a house in the garden just drinking a kind of quality tea and chatting and in overall spending time effortlessly on a Sunday. On a sunshiny, happy Sunday. And listening to this handful of DIY inspired tracks, which conveys the precise, mind-provoking impetus to the world. It is not outsider art anymore. Stylistically it might be tagged in that way but substantially it is quite mainstream being hyped up by hipsters. That`s ok. The issue is out from the discography of such prolific label as Indonesian Mindblasting (from noise and post-metal to indie pop and alternative folk). To boost your mind.

6/08/2016

[Teaser of the day] Ak`chamel - Potzlom

Free Music Archive

New Weird America
Free folk
Dream folk
Anti-folk
Avant-folk
Experimental folk
Art folk

Artist: Ak`chamel

Release: Fucking With Spirits

Label: The Centipede Farm/FMA/Bandcamp

Year: 2014

Stabilo – Sleep Deeply (2015)

MiMi

Ambient
Soundscape
Drone
Minimalism
Ambient drone
Epic
Sound art
Organic electronica

Comment: Yesterday in the evening I started to listen to this 4-track issue. I guess the title justifies and celebrates itself though it was too early then to fall asleep. Today I started to listen to it early in the morning and it sounded like a revelation. At Clematis one could hear organic and undulating electronic sounds to be mixed up together being especially suitable for an idyllic morning time. Despite it one could hear a pleasant tension between those multiple layers and effects. Maybe it is not even tension; maybe it is a burden of real layers and imaginative pictures, which follow to each other unceasingly. For instance, at Fossil all those sounds embark on from nowhere and then it slowly build up to culminate in the silence-drenched orchestration of microscopic drones and ambient hovers. One can imagine a (ghost) ship nearing to the bay and then suddenly disappear without any traces. Mysticism meets mundane. There is also one sonic element, which comes across all four compositions - frequently the layers seemed to be played at different speeds, you can enjoy enchanting phase shifts coming in and running out of the focus. In general, music is poignantly majestic and touchingly ennobling. The swathes of ambient music are saturated with droning glitches, electro-acoustic crackles, digitalized hums all those elements are perfectly, I mean seamlessly spliced and forged into the dignifying whole. What else would you like to get from within it? I guess you will feel fairly relaxed after you have listened to it. It might act upon like a simulacrum to hide a world being much up in flames in reality. It is a simply perfect experience, which could also be tagged as holophonic poetry, and subtle soundfields. Behind the project is the Japanese Yasutica Horibe. The issue is a part of the discography of MiMi Records.

6/07/2016

[Teaser of the day] Folk9 - Memory

Indie pop/rock
Alternative pop/rock
Dream pop
Shoegaze

Artist: Folk9

Release: My Pop Dog

Label: Bandcamp/Self-released

Year: 2016

Asian Women on the Telephone – Bolshoi (2016)

Bandcamp

Krautrock
Experimental rock
Avant-rock
Art rock
Electronic music
Psychedelic
Freeformfreakout
Avant-prog
RIO
Leftfield
Free jazz
Synth-rock

Comment: the Russian AWOTT`s album Bolshoi does mean literally “big”/”huge” in Russian. I am trying to figure out which sort of references it could have more concretely. Firstly, Bolshoi is big by its manners though its manners are not bombastic at all in the way it were provided by Queen, and Meat Loaf, for instance. AWOTT`s pursuit is to undermine cultural and musical conventions and therefore go to an other side. With regard to the other side, which was primarily set out in the 60s and 70s by such juggernauts as Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, and an array of krautrock combos. From there come the main attributes of this enchanting 6-notch issue – motorik repeating and spacey jamming and incessant formation of new audible shapes as if having dwelling place inside the tube of a kaleidoscope. At times the compositions sound as if being buzzed and heavily out of balance or those minutiae are heavily exaggerated. That’s very cool. They take peripheral sonic elements to cook something more tangible and enjoyable. Given that it could be admitted Oblipy to be the most poppy song on the album though being far away from conventional understanding of pop music. All of that is wrapped up in a psychedelic curtain, which in turn is spiked with the smithereens of jazz, electronic music, krautrock, subconscious irrationality and stoned logic. The favourite of mine is Raman Abkhishek of which latter part chimes exactly as a tribute to Damo Suzuki, and CAN`s Tago Mago. More profoundly, neurotic singing of females with distinctive Japanese recitation, intensely iterative rhythms and occult synths used to make sense. In one track the members of the combo either abandon human being related headstalls or being diagnosed with a lycanthropic disease to repeat in Russian with great joy they are animals, you are an animal. Ultimately it could be said this is one of the best issues I have heard in the year of 2016. You have to be warned – be ready to get freaked out. Obviously it is a game over your head even experiencing it after a couple of listening times.

6/06/2016

[Teaser of the day] The Womb - Skateboarder Hit By A Train

The Womb

Alternative pop/rock
Art pop
Indie pop/rock
Electro-indie
Angst pop

Artist: The Womb

Release: Local Explosions

Label: The Womb/Danielle Records

Year: 2016

Edmahnd – Henosis (2014)

Radio Stalingrad

Dark ambient
Illbient
Ambient
Soundscapes
Avant-garde
Minimalism
Experimentalism
Sound art

Comment: I can remember for Brian Eno once set out to visualise ambient music as furniture music. I guess he had not yet the idea of dark ambient and illbient music, which does have a sonic similarity but of which ideological standpoints hold many millions of miles far from the ones of ambient music. You get convinced in that any time by listening to another dark ambient/illbient issue, for instance Edmahnd`s Henosis on Radio Stalingrad. The 3-track issue’s sources are profound and ominous despite consisting of a monochromatic fabric and endless echoes and incessant iterations. By its nature it is a sort of minimal music though loaded with adversarial emotions and frightening sensations. It sounds as if foreseeing an impending doom of unknown nature and heritage. The direction of the danger is also unknown but it is perceivable being somewhere around there. From day to day such type of music is being produced and we are the only subjects from whom the message is being addressed. I hope we are not stupid enough to ignore it blatantly. Get it, love it or…love it.

6/05/2016

[Teaser of the day] Erik Brood - Share Your Love

Shoegaze
Indie pop/rock
Alternative pop/rock
Dream pop
Psychedelic rock

Artist: Erik Brood

Release: Touch Screens

Label: Bandcamp/Self-released

Year: 2012

[Teaser of the day] Bruks Production - Danger Zone

Dusted Wax Kingdom

Sampledelic
Hip-hop
Cinematic
Urban music
Trip-hop
Breaks
Mood music

Artist: Bruks Production

Release: Bruks Production

Label: Dusted Wax Kingdom

Year: 2016

[Teaser of the day] Ether - Desperation Row

Sirona-records

Chiptune
8-bit
Alternative
Chipbreak
Experimental electronica
Primitronica
Psychedelic
Tracker music
Electrobilly

Artist: Ether

Release: Muridae+Other Tracks

Label: Sirona-records

Year: 2016

Seazo - Deterministic Chaos (2016)

Enoughrecords

Free Music Archive

Drum and bass
Chillstep
Experimental electronica
Modern classical
Ambient techno
Dubstep
Leftfield
Breakbeat
Experimental electro
Ambient noise
Illbient

Comment: the Norwegian Seazo's album Deterministic Chaos consisting of 12 tracks is based on an intriguing idea to mix up electronic rhythms and wide ambient plateaus with noises, electronic effects, and hisses. I guess such a perspective might frighten an average listener because the word "noise" is mostly associated with harsh sounds, inarticulate compositions and disoriented feelings. Since My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and later Tim Hecker showed up that noise elements in music could highly be sensual/sexual and even majestic, respectively. In fact, the same facts are repeated by Seazo either though doing it in his own way. Indeed, as I alleged earlier the artist's interface of the aforementioned stylistic elements makes difference. One could enjoy enchantingly spacey electronic progressions at Bipolaris; the same could be said about Red Cumulonimbus – it is hardly believable that ambient music and adjacent elements of it can sound so freshly and full of life. Day Drumming is as fabulous as the previously mentioned piece though drawing on the atmospheric breakbeat/drum and bass sequence. In truth, it is an instance of dream and bass rather than drum and bass. Crying Forest Spirits deserves its name because all those noises and rhythmic elements seem to be animated to puncture one's soul and heart. The rest of the album provides no fillers preserving its exquisite quality and playful expression. For instance, Drunk Clown could freely be a characterization of Krusty The Clown in respect to those twisted, highly playful electro vibes. All in all, this outing must be heard. This is bigger than life. Your life. One of the best albums in 2016.

Lemur – Lemur (2013)

Enoughrecords

Free Music Archive

Stoner rock
Alternative rock
Post-metal
Post-rock
Math rock
Technical metal
Experimental rock
Psychedelic rock

Comment: Lisbon, Portugal-based Lemur's 15-track record is long enough to provide many enchanting moments regardless of a quite confined stylistic array. Or maybe I misunderstood the extent of it. In general, it is post-rock though the artist is very keen to go beyond its borders as frequently as it is needed. It in turn depends on how to avoid being an average, even possibly boring post-rock artist. Lemur is successful in doing of it. For instance, monumental guitar, bass and drums interplay is frequently variegated with poignant violin arrangements, sensible glockenspiel chords, psychedelic keyboard interpolation (most remarkably at Widmannstätten). Once in a while the prevalent soundscape consisting of soaring guitars, bold bass lines and thumping drums is jettisoned in favour of rhythmically more high-strung math rock/technical metal/stoner rock/progression rock matrixes (at Cell's Cleavage, for example). One of the most favourite songs is Razor Lung wherein one could trace post-rock-ish instrumentation (at times one could discern even post-punk-ish glimpses) complemented with lofty violin gears reminding of easiness of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, for instance. Spikes and Nails on the other side is the demonstration of power through fast-changing guitar chords, massive overwhelming energy having its source somewhere between blackened and white matter. It is an unsteady madness, and it would be a crime to hold it steady. In a word, this 15-track issue is decorously and expertly played out enough to remind it for a long span of time. The release is a part of the catalogue of Portuguese record label Enough Records.

Animal Collective – Live at Irving Plaza (2016)

Nyctaper

Freak folk
New Weird America
Free folk
Post-psychedelic electronica
Live recording
Experimental pop
Art pop
Weird folk

Comment: Animal Collective's gigs used to be energetic and burbly ones, which are available at Archive.org and the same words could as said about the recent, 15-track issue. The Baltimore, US-based quartet issued brand new album Painting With in the beginning of the year on Domino, which seems to sound polyrhythmically and being galvanised with vowel effects to conjure up psychedelic sensations as much as I was able to hear from this gig. Something very special could not be found from except FloriDada. Business as usual I would dear to say because AC seems to have reached its aesthetical limits. Of course, since Merriweather Post Pavilion AC changed its direction to be more electronic and dance appealed rather than New Weird-oriented as their previous albums used to be. So one could admit AC did not invent something new and I do not feel myself psyched at all to get the new one. Indeed, much has changed around them and us and it is hardly exciting to expect truly refreshing breezes from there, as it was actually reasonable 7-16 years ago. However, the recent gig consists of old and new compositions and fortunately the combo has found a proper balance between them. By the way, the live started off with Alvin Row, and Bees and the session involves the favourite track of mine by Animal Collective, Loch Raven. Insofar as AC is not planning to revisit Estonia I shall have to regret that I did not attend their live at Lillepaviljon 10 years ago.

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Melomans