Panorama - Tapete rojo (2011)

Series Media
Archive.org

8.8

/Shoegaze, Soul funk, Dance rock, Progressive, Psychedelic rock, Alternative rock, Experimental indie, Crossover/

Comment: In the previous year I discovered for myself some excellent shoegaze/psychedelic/experimental indie groups like This Lonely Crowd and Inverness from Brazil. No doubt, the Latin American-based music has established a solid aesthetic level amongst the indie music realm, though, having unsung and underrated reputation around the world nowadays yet. Panorama comes from Medellín, Colombia, having recorded since 2001. Their fourth release does veer from ordinary, slightly psychedelic-drenched indie pop (Trampa; Tapete rojo) and atmospheric synth progressions around shoegaze-relied wraiths (Sol brillar; Hola/Adiós) to catchy, danceable soul funk (No encuentro las palabras). By the way, all the songs are spanish-sung.

White Wishes - Today (2010)

Shelflife
Bandcamp
Lastfm

/Shoegaze, Indie pop, Alternative pop, Dream pop, Singer-songwriter/

9.6

Comment: White Wishes is 20-year-old Nikita Pavlov, coming from the area of St. Petersburg, Russia and now sharing his residing place between it and Berlin. His 4-track album Today is just a brilliant, near-perfect indie workout drifting within a realm of dream-alike shoegaze-y pop a la the minor yet excellent hits by Slowdive (Richard, Summer Haze). The lyrics is used to be contemplative going mainly about love without being spiced up into pathetic somehow. Beautiful surges of guitars and melody hooks give it a solid backdrop thereby making me feel really enthralled. And I have no idea how much I have listened to it yet. I can just say the following: let`s wait Pavlov`s new releases. Indeed, he has got a formula how to establish a kind of magic pop.

Light Leak - Thoughts Of Mirth (2010)

Bandcamp

8.7

/Glo-fi, Chillwave, Alternative, Electronic pop, Bedroom pop, Cosmic pop, Experimental indie/

Comment: This is an European version of bedroom pop/chillwave/glo-fi music from Germany, also including the main sample from Gainsbourg & Bardot`s classic Je T'Aime … Moi Non Plus at The Morning Star. More concretely onwards, lo-fi-esque beats are finely shuffled with catchy melody hooks and dream-alike, at times even cosmic harmonics, offering a slightly psychedelic and halfway disco pop experience all in all. Indeed, as if tuned by 70`s producers.

My Duck666 - Music For Believers (2011)

Hum And Hiss
Popsakal

8.5

/Noisegrind, Gorenoise, Noise music, Harsh noise, Avant-garde, Non music, Brutal metal/

Comment: Choky, skipping and voracious simultaneously, the seventh album by My Duck666 (from Moscow) is filled in with spontaneous and very malignant (mainly brown) noise attacks and zombie-esque moanings, however, it might be the best sonic reflection of a human being`s expression of despair, angst and angriness. By its conception it seems to be politically incorrect, anti-religious, personally offensive... and uncontrolled as already said. However, it reminds of the workouts of Japanese noise mongrels like Hanatarashi and Gerogerigegege, especially if to consider their frequent references toward the lowest part of the digestive tract.

Falco Subboteo - Pigged Rubble (2010)

Clinical Archives
Free Music Archive

8.8

/Live recording, Electro-acoustic, Avant-garde, Improvised music, Free improvisation, Free jazz, Turntablism, Freeformfreakout, Experimentalism, Psycho-acoustic/

Comment: How to come to grips with this 3-tracks album by a duo consisting of Val Perona (violin) and Gwilly Edmondez (tape/vinyl/samples)? Actually it is not needed to get as listening to this is pure fun on its own. Still, by its sonority it firstly reminds of free jazz via fastly changeable violin chords and playing techniques, on the other side it is a loosely formed output showcasing fine pitch-effect-based experiments on tapes, turntables and samples. Galopping near-rhythm sounds, warped chords, abrasive electronics, "uncontextual" dodges of samples, vocal interventions and much more make up a solid whole in any cases.

The Stars Ovation - here in the stillness, despite everything (2010)

Rack & Ruin

7.7

/Modern classical, Classical, Ambient, Piano music, Dark pop, Neoclassical/

Comment: Lonely piano chords-dictated music with some dark-hued backdrops and synth orchestrations which evokes melancholic moods in a good manner at times. No doubt, if you are a hard-nosed fan of (modern) classical music, however, you should listen to this one. Interesting chord patterns are conjured up from there and fringed by lots of space.

Non Dolet - Inner (2011)

Section 27

Mediafire

8.8

/Downtempo, Chamber music, Experimental electronica, Avant-pop, Cinematic pop, Minimal, Modern classical, Ambient, Children music, Improvised music, Progressive, Electro-acoustic, Trip-hop, Film noir, Electronic pop, Crossover, Musique concrete/

Comment: An album by a classically educated Russian musician (a young woman called Alisa) is full of diverse tendencies, different sorts of shadows and sonic shards, balancing between acoustic and electronic topics, manipulating with beats and without cadences, veering from silence to less silent, from pop realms to out of pop, from solemn to earthly, from restrainted contemplations to cinematic, orchestrated hooks, sampling of a snippet of a speech by George W. Bush and awesome motorik rhythms of trains, all in all having acquired a good overview regarding different styles and genres. Yet, please do not misunderstand that the recent case is not going about a bulimic output because all is solidly articulated and channelized into a segmented soundscape which is apparently a type of grower with each following listen time. Indeed, her music can just be classified as post-crossover which seems to be very opened to everything.