A Holiday Friends Christmas Treasury Volume Two - Part One (2010)

Holiday Records

9.2

/Conceptual, Indie pop, Alternative pop, Twee pop, Poptronica/

Comment: It might be this moment is not the most proper time for the Christmas events and reflections, though, indie-based Christmas songs on its own are not usual phenomenons in any cases and any time. Holiday Records is a tough indie label who has offered lots of charming tunes during many years. On this compilation can be met the songs by the label`s essential guards like Victory VIII, Arctic Flow, Travelogue, Jes Maybe, and She`ll Be Eating Her Nails When I`m Famous. Especially outstanding is a track by Arctic Flow`s Memories To Hold which could be considered as one of the most beautiful songs ever created. Let`s add it to the bookmark of songs of the closure of year.

Die Stille - Mirror (2011)

45RPM-Records

Archive.org

Lastfm

8.2

/World music, Fusion, Chillout, Psychedelic electronica, Psy-trance, Electronic pop, Ethnotronica, Ethnic music, Psy-ambient/

Comment: This 4-track case is about a cavalcade of brooding and burbling psy-trance music which comes to pass to meet ethnic music (islamic culture-relied vocal samples; tabla programmings), psychedelic overthrows in rhythms and timbres, ambient-esque spheres and occasional flamenco guitar chords. My favorite instance is Time To Leave.

The Gifted Children - Fallacy Stilts (2011)

The Gifted Children

8.5

/Psychedelic pop, Alternative pop/rock, Experimental indie, Alt-folk, Chamber pop/

Comment: This is a group from Rochester/Buffalo, USA, having been active since the mid-90`s period and recorded more than 1300 songs, yet, remaining in status of unsung heroes to date. On this record they have featured 6 songs of experimental indie pop, more concretely, compiled of dynamically running strumming guitars, subdued near-shoegaze sounds, delicious progressions on orchestrated elements, acidious sonic effects and off-kilter synth ripples. The small things and beautiful songs make sense indeed.

Rocketships of Love - UFC Space Soundtrack (Book 2) (2011)

Quixodelic

9.4

/Psychedelic pop, Synth pop, No wave, Exotica pop, Drone rock, Electronic pop, Avant-pop, Psych-pop, Pop experimentalism/

Comment: First off, this is an amazing set of 14 tracks. Demonstrated through idiosyncratic (analogue) synth-backed and dusty reed organ-shined exemplaries which do veer from highly densed Suicide-alike psych-out torrents and flashingly droning synth gears-vibrations to contemplative near-ambient notches and vastly catchy space age pop/exotica pop once made by such grandmasters like Jean Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. On the other side, 90`s are apparently visible via the hints at Spiritualized and James for instance. Indeed, it is a re-interpretation of the past experience in the verge of a cycle of the pop tradition.

Kodacrome - Robbery

Kodacrome - Robbery from marathon of dope on Vimeo.

Amygdala Projects - Shortcut to Heaven (2011)

BFW Recordings

8.0

/Electronic pop, Downtempo, Big-beat, Ambient trance, Psyambient, Psytrance, Kosmische musik/

Comment: Those 11 tracks do come by László Néder from Hungary, which mainly relies upon brooding electronic textures with hypnotic big-beat stokes and sometimes calm, middle-tempod hypnotic trance/psytrance/psyambient, and the other time (The Snag) embarks on a journey through the spherical realm of our inner space, reminiscent of the workouts in the realm of dark ambient and kosmische musik.

Bruno & the Susio Squad Band - The Little Prince - My tribute (2011)

Jamendo

8.6

/Pyschedelic, Conceptual, Brass pop, Alternative pop, Progressive rock, Soul funk/

Comment: This issue is concretely inspired by Antoine Saint Exupery`s unforgettable book named "The Little Prince" and is filled in with beautiful harmonies and catchy rhythmic combinations. However, it can be generalized as psychedelic pop with latin pop/brass pop influences and progressive rock glimpses. Some examples. the first track The boy inside me sounds at times very close to Manu Chao-esque delightful (latin pop) somersaults. The sound of an overflying plane refers undoubtedly to Saint Exupery`s main profession (the flyer). On the other side, the refrain of the track the Fox (feat. Mimisoul) is a rip-off of The Cardigans` Lovefool mixed up with soul funk.