Elizabeth Joan Kelly – Farewell, Doomed Planet! (2019)

Bandcamp

• Ambient pop 
• Art pop 
• Experimental pop 
• Synth-pop 
• Electronic music 
• Ambient 
• Electro pop 
• Post-pop

Comment: it is nice to hear Joan Elisabeth Kelly's sonic experiments and poppy expressions at full sway. Undoubtedly it is a blissful, groovy and heady view on pop music at its best sense. Since the times back in the beginning of the 10s with the onset of such genres as chillwave and witch house the status of ambient music has been changed from the so-called design music to a subject for more melody and harmony-trodden endeavours even if the main theme was dark. Yeah, this 11-track outing hits the way cruising somewhere between profound ambient and more recognised, more comfortable themes. In its most ultimate potentiality – the listener can perceive it during some spans of a few seconds – it could have been ended at a nightmarish threshold over which line unsound fantasies come into one's mind. The aforementioned comfortable themes are all but cheap, self-indulgent ones because they do have intrinsic potentiality for transgressive, ominous mutations. Given the topic of the album it refers also to the doings by a human being both individually and collectively – we have potentiality to build up something beautiful and on the other side we can all screw up. It is full of determined noises, intriguing dynamic rhythms and vivid sonic effects which together make up an irresistible punch of sonic waves. For instance, listen to a track, the favourite of mine, Harm, by giving contemplation about a time to come when such a sort of song would hit the charts.

[Teaser of the day] Cartel - Into The Dark Sky by Mallz and Cartel Ft Julian Lima

Jamendo

• Hip-hop
• Urban music
• Grime
• Autotune
• Trap
• Rap

Artist: Cartel

Release: music inspired by the HBO series, Insecure

Label: Jamendo

Year: 2018

[Teaser of the day] Gilman Mom - The Revisionist

• Chilltronica
• Lo-fi
• Organic electronica
• Ambient pop
• Downtempo
• Trip-hop
• Vaporwave

Artist: Gilman Mom

Release: Revisionist History

Label: Macaque/Free Music Archive/Bandcamp/Jamendo

Year: 2018

[Teaser of the day] Postcode - This Day Will Come

• Indie pop/rock
• Alternative pop/rock
• Psych-pop/rock

Artist: Postcode

Release: Year Of The Zebra - Part Two

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2015

[Teaser of the day] Zeffon - Cash in the Bag

Jamendo

• Electro-acoustic
• Avant-dub
• Avant-garde
• Avant-blues
• Improvised music
• Electronic music
• Dub blues
• Experimentalism
• Crossover

Artist: Zeffon

Release: Manipura 4

Label: Jamendo/Bandcamp

Year: 2019

[Teaser of the day] Dereleech - 299792458

Jamendo

• Dark wave
• Ethereal wave
• Darkgaze
• Avant-metal
• Drone doom
• Post-metal
• Doomgaze

Artist: Dereleech 

Release: Deadspace

Label: Jamendo/Bandcamp

Year: 2012

[Teaser of the day] Alisu - Solitaria

• Electronic music
• Ambient dub
• Dub techno
• Ambient techno
• Chilltronica

Artist: Alisu

Release: Un azar diseñado por mi

Label: Tropic

Year: 2013

Jankenpopp – Candy Marx (2006)

Jankenpopp

• Electro pop 
• Breakcore 
• Experimental electro 
• Drill and bass 
• Electronic music 
• Breakbeat 
• Abstract electro 
• Chiptune 
• Bitpop 
• Crossover

Comment: it is one of the first issues by a French musician/activist and hacker, Jankenpopp being released in 2006, however, the artist's sound is thoroughly timeless because all the three temporal dimensions invented by us – the past, the present and the future – used to reflect on each other and through one another. Firstly, it is playful and puckish based on unstable yet mapped rhythmic structures full of galvanized electro, primitive video game-alike and rough breakbeat-induced paces. A best moment on it happens relatively in the beginning when these angular and loose cadences are backed up by a lofty deep house synth layer. Later on, cut-up vowel samples are added to the mix to make up a more personal experience. All those predispositions the artist does have taken from the club scene are transmitted through a tongue-in-cheek attitude (of course, there is an exquisite veiled criticism/and irony behind it). One compartment within the set of 9 notches consists of more buried endeavours as if searching for a silent corner to take a rest for a while. Just for a while for to keep going over the ragged mountains and seas of a tumultuous sonic universe. Given that is a short-running issue and on the other side it embraces a lot of information and reflections it can be admitted as an accelerated musical course. Very nice.

Marco Lucchi – Se da lontano (2016)

Breathe Compilations

Bandcamp

• Modern classical 
• Microtonal 
• Post-classical 
• Ambient 
• Drone 
• Avant-garde 
• Experimentalism 
• Minimalism 
• Piano music 
• Ambient drone 
• Dark ambient

Comment: prolific Italian, Modena-residing musician Marco Lucchi's 5-notch outing is a bit different with one exception than some other albums I have heard by him so far. Of course, there is represented drone music, his profound minimalist approach inclined to reach profound, organic mysticism and otherworldly spirituality of dark ambient which is being characteristic to other Italian juggernauts like Ain Soph, Stefano Musso aka Alio Die, Gianluigi Gasparetti aka Oöphoi, and Lorenzo Montanà (just naming a few of the crowd) as well. Indeed, in some tracks like Shady and the title track spiritual dimensions are vamped up with the aid of vibrant drones being accomplished by immersive yet slightly awe-induced orchestrations as if walking around under the ground, in a catacomb somewhere in Southern Italy embraced by skulls, decay and the presence of centuries as an ennobling and frightening continuum. One can perceive the presence of Grim Reaper who represents both death and life, existence and disappearance (the counterparts can be evaluated and ennobled being placed side by side – there is no need to live forever, there is the need to be active/creative and contemplative and search for unity with the rest of Universe). At Psiche Abbandonata, the aforementioned exception, a listener can enjoy a skillful, expressive improvisation on an oboe by Paulo Chagas being accompanied on a sparse piano accompaniment by Matteo Marchisano-Adamo. The overwhelming, mind-broadening outing is a bit in the discography of the Mexican imprint Breathe Compilations.

Lately Kind Of Yeah – Two Shades Of Apart (2006/2019)

Vulpiano

Free Music Archive

Bandcamp

Archive.org

• Improvised music 
• Avant-rock 
• Experimental rock 
• Art rock 
• Noise rock 
• Electro-acoustic

Comment: this set of 14 tracks is just a fine dedication to guitar playing but nothing else by employing different techniques, timbres and colours. A listener can hear feverish chord changes, dynamic arpeggios, and arousing strumming here and there. At times the guitar seems to be "tortured" on prepared setups and arrangements full of slamming noises, elliptic sonic effects, electro-acoustic shrieks, warped chords and majestic wall of sounds. It is mostly all about the technical possibilities one could get out of the instrument. That also can be tagged as non-guitar music because its intention is to go far away from a weary imagination through phantasms, interruptions, filters, deviations. But not only. Beyond that melodic progressions and silent incantations used to surface in the middle of the tumult by balancing the result. Indeed, at times it chimes like a lighter version of Glenn Branca or Sonic Youth. For sure, emotive side is strong enough on it because it contains the earliest experiments by the artist then aged 15-16 years old only. Very accepted to waft the upstream of an ordinary guitar template; the album is being released on Vulpiano. 

[Teaser of the day] Obasquiat - Killing of Shaimaa el Sabbagh

  • Improvised music
  • Experimental rock

  • No Wave

  • Avant-rock

  • Space rock

Artist: Obasquiat

Release: Strugatsky
Label: Self-released/Bandcamp
Year: 2018

[Teaser of the day] Cold Womb Descent - Approaching the Borders of Mortality

• Dark ambient
• Electronic music
• Dystopbient
• Ambient drone
• Epic
• Ambient
• Space music

Artist: Cold Womb Descent

Release: Ldaovh Trilogy

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp 

Year: 2017

[Teaser of the day] Betelmire - A Record Low

Rain Above

• Alternative pop
• Lo-fi
• Bedroom pop
• Singer-songwriter
• Drone pop
• Dream pop
• DIY
• Organcore
• Indie pop

Artist: Betelmire

Release: 606 MPH

Label: Rain Above/Morgan Leah/Jigsaw

Year: 2005/2010 

Hypnodial – Sub (2019)

Somniscope

• Ambient 
• Organic electronica 
• Ambient drone 
• Musique concrète 
• Field recording 
• New Age

Comment: this issue consists of a pair of long, 27-minute, compositions, the first of them is the original and the second is a mix version of it. The original one is an ennobling blend of synthesized effects and a theme progression which a little reminds of Angelo Badalamenti's lead theme of Twin Peaks. But then now, all of that slowly and unremarkably fades away and will be traded for a solemn cathedral organ being backed up by raindrops which keep falling on your face. And then hushed industrial shrieks, amplified hisses, minimal vibrations, natural sounds (rain, sea waves) and a reverberant rhythmic pace are mixed up with each other to result in a sultry ambient composition which may resemble a sonic and imaginative jungle similar to one depicted by Estonian musician and globetrotter Tont. This sort of music I would like to tag “New-New Age” or “Meta-Dub”. Or it is a sort of ambient music which leaves behind abstract patterns to come over into the heart of a listener. It is really pleasant to hear such a thick, analogue-alike processing of sounds. The mix called Surface Mix is a bit dissimilar due to reconfiguration in sonic elements and some differently accentuated layers. However, similarly to the main track it is at least as powerful and suggestive and thereof convincing to my ears. In a word, it is a great issue for relaxing and stimulating one's brain. All the donations the Palma, Spain-based artist gets go to the support of Coral Reef Alliance. The issue is a part of the discography of Somniscope.

[Teaser of the day] Light Leak - Beach Dream

• Alternative pop
• Electronic music
• Ambient pop
• Chillwave

Artist: Light Leak

Release: Graduation EP

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2011

[Teaser of the day] Bob Bucko. Jr. - Inarticulate Particulates

• Avant-garde
• Brown noise
• Lobit
• Non-music
• Noise drone
• Psycho-acoustic
• Experimentalism
• Post-industrial
• Micronoise
• Microtonal
• Live
• Minimalism

Artist: Bob Bucko. Jr.

Release: Junior Nuclear

Label: Lurker Bias

Year: 2019

[Teaser of the day] The Wind Whistles - Devil`s Cauldron

Jamendo

• Indie folk
• Alt-folk
• Chamber folk
• Folk indie
• Canadiana
• Art folk

Artist: The Wind Whistles

Release: Window Sills  

Label: Aaahh/Jamendo

Year: 2008

[Teaser of the day] Amitron_7 - The Life of Repton

Jamendo

• Ambient pop
• Electronic music
• Spoken word
• Breaks
• Kraut-techno
• Art pop
• Experimental pop
• Progressive rock
• Crossover
• Chilltronica

Artist: Amitron_7

Release: Come Ye Sinners to the Gospel Feast

Label: Enoughecords/Jamendo/Free Music Archive/Archive.org

Year: 2014

[Teaser of the day] Taras Bul`ba - Rumore Bianco

Jamendo

• Noise pop
• Indie rock
• Post-rock
• Post-hardcore
• Alternative rock

Artist: Taras Bul`ba

Release: Taras Bul`ba

Label: Jamendo

Year: 2000

[Teaser of the day] The Juliets - Ad-Lib

• Indie pop
• Baroque pop
• Art pop
• Chamber pop
• Alternative pop

Artist: The Juliets

Release: Perfect Season

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2011

[Teaser of the day] Juanitos - Perfect Disco 2012

Jamendo

• Alternative pop
• Funk rock
• Alternative dance
• Acid pop

Artist: Juanitos

Release: Mission Venus

Label: Jamendo

Year: 2012

[Teaser of the day] Chancius - Big Wave

Jamendo

• Art pop/rock
• Indie pop/rock
• Singer-songwriter
• Alternative pop/rock

Artist: Chancius

Release: Bando

Label: Jamendo/Bandcamp

Year: 2015

[Teaser of the day] New Vogue - The Stranger Inside

• Post-punk
• Power pop
• Alternative rock
• Indie rock
• Psych-rock

Artist: New Vogue

Release: S​/​T EP

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2018

[Teaser of the day] Grigoriy Nedelko - Long Haired Rock

Microbit-Records

• Lo-fi
• Psych-rock
• DIY
• Singer-songwriter
• Rock and roll
• Mock rock
• Bedroom music

Artist: Grigoriy Nedelko  

Release: MICROBIT-REC 197

Label: Microbit-Records

Year: 2013

Carcass Brook – A Good Day To Die (2018)

Death Roots Syndicate

Bandcamp

• Gothic folk 
• Americana 
• Singer-songwriter 
• Roots music 
• Appalachian music 
• Death country 
• Music hall 
• Vaudeville music

Comment: Jamie Landsborough's sophomoric album is a glimpse into Americana and roots music through murky lenses which could be described with such prefixes as "gothic", "dark", "death". Indeed, within this set of 11 compositions one can hear all the scope of profoundly America related sounds from a bit buffoonish vaudeville and music hall-induced rays to ominous noise rock and ghastly country instances. Technically it rings as if "normal" songs were played through distortion block with an additional reverb application. In fact, some compositions do sound exactly like new interpretations of oldie ones (End of the World, Crazy Fool). I have heard something like that before for sure. Given that there is no need for a gargantuan effort to create something truly otherworldly and mind-bending. Just up the ante for strong melodies and right sonic effects. It results in all being imbued with a strong emotional and emotive impact, full of sadness and grieve. It makes one`s soul to be scratched and a bit torn. Jamie Landsborough is helped by friends who mostly play electr(on)ic keyboards to add a sustainable droning effect to the mix. The relevant point is about how it works on the listener at a moment. The impressive outing is a bit in the discography of Death Roots Syndicate.

[Teaser of the day] Tiiu Kiik - CTK 811ex

• Drone pop
• Electronic music
• Ambient pop
• Art pop 
• Experimental pop
• Organcore

Artist: Tiiu Kiik

Release: Muinasjutuline teekond

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2010

[Teaser of the day] HzHearse - Fragmented Reality

• Rhythmic noise
• Hardtechno
• Electronic music
• Breakcore
• Deep techno

Artist: HzHearse

Release: Dystopian Jungle

Label: Silent Method

Year: 2019

[Teaser of the day] D-Echo Project - Saz Me Up

Cyan Music

• Funk
• Electronic music
• Chilltronica
• Mood music

Artist: D-Echo Project

Release: Cine Visions

Label: Cyan Music

Year: 2019

[Teaser of the day] Randomajestiq - Pulses of Triangle

Kikapu

• IDM
• Electronic music
• Ambient techno
• Experimentalism

Artist: Randomajestiq

Release: Spclab9 EP

Label: Kikapu

Year: 2003

[Teaser of the day] The Peach Tree - I`m Sorry (The Turning)

• Industrial rock
• Alternative rock
• Electro-rock
• EBM
• Crossover
• Synth-rock
• Electronic music

Artist: The Peach Tree

Release: Lift The Black Veil

Label: Self-released/Bandcamp

Year: 2009

[Teaser of the day] Eko Fisk - The Infiltrator

Silent Flow

• Electronic music
• Ambient
• New Age
• Ambient drone

Artist: Eko Fisk 

Release: Hypnagogia

Label: Silent Flow

Year: 2018

[Teaser of the day] The Manipulated Living - Sound Of Light

Nocharizma

• Post-rock
• Experimental rock
• Post-metal
• Epic
• Experimental metal

Artist: The Manipulated Living

Release: Prelude To Oblivion

Label: Nocharizma/Jamendo

Year: 2009

[Teaser of the day] Malameccanica - St. Vincent

Turbinicarpus

• Cinematic
• Electronic music
• Ambient pop
• Spoken word

Artist: Malameccanica 

Release: Noli Tangere 

Label: Turbinicarpus

Year: 2010

Multi-Panel – Empty Handed (2019)

Multi-Panel

Bandcamp

• Indietronica 
• Duyster 
• Alternative pop 
• Indie pop 
• Electronic 
• DIY 
• Lo-fi 
• Art pop 
• Organic electronica

Comment: the Dutchman Ludo Maas is back again with his brand new album, similarly to his previous ones the 12-track outing straddles on an interface of guitar jangles and twitches, crispy electronic beats and variegated keyboards for creating melodies and blossoming orchestrations and implementing cute harmonies at low and high-ends of the breathing sonic spectrum. Sometimes the soundscape is imbued with spoken word spans, one of them poignantly reflecting upon the problem of the overpopulation of cities and in overall all around the world that is the biggest problem of nowadays of not only defending Earth and other species but also the very ethical stance to live as responsible human beings. It is at least partly inflicted by the fact the people used to live like pigs their snouts deeply stuck in the mud by taking no profound incantation about outer space and not perceiving seamless, imperative connection between this small yet important locus and tremendous cosmic village called Universe (it is much bigger than one same titled movie company could be resulted in its all possibilities I dare to say). How could we influence the course? On the base of the so-called democratic elections? No way, it is hijacked by the union of the politicians and businessmen for a century at least (they cannot be reversed from talking about GDP and economic growth) so to influence Earth and one's health for good could only be done on the grass root level, the smaller society/community is the better it is. At the final instance everybody's personal decisions make up the greatest impact. Otherwise the natural vengeance will be taken on us. Ludo Maas is celebrating with this decent (fourth) album his 20th anniversary as a musician, as a modest dweller by having been perfecting his ennobling trace (other projects: Legion of Spunky (with Mike "Stikewang" Steelman) and Background Radiation (with Tim Dwyer)).

Masayuki Imanishi – Worn Tape (2019)

Moving Furniture

• Non-music 
• Electro-acoustic 
• Avant-garde 
• Experimentalism 
• Acousmatic music 
• Musique concrète 
• Abstract 
• Sound art

Comment: in fact, what reasonable to say about this 11-track outing by a Japanese experimental artist? It chimes like your worn home machines were in connection with contact microphones and thereafter those thin, bleak sounds coming out of them were powerfully amplified and recorded. Lots of unstable levels in electricity and voltage, lots of mechanical deviations and industrial spectres are represented over there. No waste of surrounding sounds to be implemented into a miserable everyday's glimpse of a nowadays human being. No intimate community, no close society, just living in an over-regulated and dully systematised existence with silently shrieking machines in the middle of the blocks, waste and cerebral and physical decline called the city (the so-called civilization). Let`s feel more physical hunger for as much as possible to purify and saturate your senses (at the same time as a main measure to avoiding intoxication/diminish contamination of physical, physiological and mental environment). Similarly to this outing (a piece in the discography of Moving Furniture Records) which does nothing to say just reflecting upon something repulsive and unpleasant.

Ivan Black – Aural Sketchings (2017)

Breathe Compilations

• Modern classical 
• Post-classical 
• Ambient
• Electronic music 
• Minimal synth 
• Organic electronica 
• Musique concrète 
• Art music 
• Kosmische Musik 
• Dark ambient 
• Progressive rock

Comment: Ivan Black's 23-track record Aural Sketchings conveys a bliss coming from crossing modern classical and ambient tendencies with one another or rather infrequently, trying to reach pure forms of the aforementioned genres. At times he brings forth more acidic, synthesiser-based experiments which remind of some genres like synthwave and minimal synth after the crease of post-punk started to decline and transform into different subgenres (just a few examples toward it one can find out). Thirdly, Hollow Star is a murky electro-acoustic experiment. Indeed, it is musically and by its mood a solid issue just by going on seamlessly and without any silly pretense to be somehow artsy-fartsy. Because of that I guess, a listener can discover lots of organically extended and accomplished ideas. Emotionally and emotively the best moments are related to those slightly inverted ambient compositions which seem to transcend the borders of time and space, which seem to be simultaneously here and far away (for instance, Day Dream, Adrastea, When You Are Lost, Falling For). Another striking feature is a terrain where field recordings are imbued with droning ambient beauty (Icicles). Additionally, there is also represented Kosmische Musik (In The Stream), dark ambient/dystopbient (Thebe) and spaced-out progressive rock (In The Afternoon). It is a sort of music which probably does arouse one's mind to the extent of hearing new imaginary, physically nonexistent sounds in his/her head. It is a way how sounds and fantasies interact with one another to create a phenomenon called music. I am just trying to humbly map out this wondrous outing with intention not to restrict it somehow in my personal understanding because this autarkic album is filled in with secrets which will persevere even after many listening times I have been having. So let's go on without any superimposition of words on sounds. It is a pure, sophisticated feeling. The glorious issue is a part of the discography of Breathe Compilations. 

Cousin Silas – Snowline (2017)

The Cerebral Rift

Soundcloud

• Ambient 
• Minimalism 
• Drone 
• Ambient drone 
• Experimentalism 
• Avant-garde 
• Space music

Comment: although Cousin Silas' one-track composition of a 74 minute is very austere throughout the course it does provide a strong impact on the listener's senses and especially on imagination. Just being embedded in a spaced-out droning with some atmospheric guitar arcs and lifting up to half-orchestrated progressions at times. On the other side, just trying to resect the drone one can hear higher and lower frequencies buzzing around which melt together to provide an imagination of a space shuttle moving on a billions of miles away from Earth. Rushing on the light speed yet in the middle of that slight void it seems like staying at one and the same point and instead of it all the space used to shift in comparison to the rocket. All is relative and conditional in fact, the same can be said about the nature of the issue. All is staying and changing at the same time. And could you feel yourself as one and the same person you used to be before? I guess your perception is more saturated and the feel of reality is more lifted up than before. That's a seductive simulacrum for the human race as possible conquerors of Outer Space. However, this possibility to come to fruition is very low and thereby our obligation is to protect and sustain our beautiful planet. The fabulous outing is a part in the discography of The Cerebral Rift (more profoundly, CerebralAudio as its musical offshoot). 

Pogo – Weightless (2018)

Bandcamp

• Sampledelic 
• Plunderphonics 
• Avant-pop 
• Electronic pop 
• Shibuya-kei 
• Sound collage 
• Alternative dance

Comment: this 15-notch album is certainly a pure blessing in disguise. Its "disguised" nature comes out as twofold as a musical release and as an instance of plunderphonic music (the idea of employing other artist's music in the way to create something absolutely new and different). Given that a good plunderphonic album to be once properly produced it needs much exhaustive work to gather many fitting samples and sounds from a huge amount of cultural heritage. Musically the Australian artist Nick Bertke mixes up a fabulously lofty soundtrack of ennobling melodies and propulsive rhythms either on iterative manner or progressive mood (the uplifting cover print feeds also the fantasy of the nature of the release). Of course, there are up some sort of Japanese impressions in the vein of Shibuya-kei and atmospheric dance pop similar to the likes of Fantastic Plastic Machine, and Pizzicato 5. There are up a couple of tracks that could be added to possible ideal compilation of mine. For instance, Data & Picard, in the refrain it is repeated the phrase She-eere-Khaan, She-eere--Kha-aan in a truly blissful, mind-blowing way. With regard to catchiness the same can be said about a track entitled Trumpular (by sampling the recent president of the United States). The tiny parts constitute a big whole. Great sound, astonishing issue.